Someone's Savior, Someone's Sister
by formerAnnie
Summary: Six months after the events of The Last Stand, the new resident doctor arrives at Xavier's School, bringing with her many old and thought-to-be-gone friends and enemies as she chases after her own, mysterious vendettas.
1. A Ring at the Doorbell

Well, here it is: my spur-of-the-moment X-Men fanfiction. Just for clarity's sake _italicized_ bits are flashbacks and '_SSSSS_' splits flashbacks that are put together. If there are any discrepancies between the movies and references I make to them, please forgive me. I don't own any of the X-Men movies and haven't seen them in a while. Additionally, this story is probably going to be less than ten chapters long, unlike my (lately) usual novel-length tales. And please review! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Anyway, enough about me...onto the story!

A Ring at the Doorbell

_The standing woman remained frozen even as Stryker submitted to Kayla's powers of persuasion in dropping his gun and walking away. It wasn't until the cruel man was at least a hundred feet further that the brunette doctor finally raced to the wounded girl, frantically tearing off her lab coat to put a halt to the gushing blood. So much had happened that day…too many people had died. She felt that, if she saved this single victim, she would somehow make up for everything. _

_Still busy trying to the stop the blood, even though it was clearly too late, the woman barely noticed the presence of Wolverine and Gambit standing over the females. In fact, she didn't even look up until the metal-man denied even knowing the dead girl he had obviously been in love with, at which point, she stared up in shock, not caring about the other retreating mutant…only Wolverine. _

_After returning her gaze blankly for a moment, he walked away and the doctor went back to trying to salvage the ruined life._

"It's over,_"_ _a voice in her mind said._

"_No," she argued with the British male personage, suddenly looking at her bloodstained hands. So much blood on her hands…and not just Kayla's."_

"None of this was your fault_," it insisted. _

"_Who are you?"_

"I am Charles Xavier. I have a school for young mutants in New York. I can help you._"_

"_I can take care of myself."_

"I know. But, if you ever need help, just reach out with your mind._"_

_When the strange being left her mind, she could only stare numbly at her bloodstained hands. Why did blood always follow her?_

_Suddenly, she faintly heard feet crunching on the ground in the direction of the collapsed structures. When the woman looked up, there was, standing about fifty feet away, a huge man in maroon pajama pants. There were fresh scars all over his torso, his mouth looked like it had been sewn shut, he had a long dagger sticking out of each hand, and, where his eyes once were, there was a deadly, smoldering laser. The doctor had no weapons and was utterly exhausted…and she was going to kill Logan the next time she saw him for leaving this freak unfinished._

"_It wasn't my fault!" the girl screamed, leaving her post beside the dead body to inch backwards as Weapon X slowly hulked towards her, his laser flickering. Luckily, her voice wasn't shaking. When she looked around, though, she realized that there was practically no cover for at least a hundred feet. "I didn't do this to you! Stryker didn't tell you to kill me, did he? Then just leave me alone!"_

_None of her pleas worked; he only kept coming. Just as the victim was about to resign to her fate, that voice piped up again._

"Use your powers._"_

"_I can't," she growled back lowly._

"There is no one to see you do it. Protect yourself._"_

"_No!" The last time she had used this part of her abilities, she had sworn to never let it emerge again. That time, it had taken at least twenty years to keep it from popping out every time she was angry. She didn't think she would be able to do it again. Something that terrible should remain hidden._

"_Doctor?" a young voice behind her said. The mutant turned to find a blindfolded boy about fifteen feet off._

"_What are you doing here? How did you get here?"_

"_The Professor was worried about you…and I didn't really give him a choice."_

_How could Xavier send a child (blind, no less!) to such a dangerous situation? _

_Suddenly, the boy slipped his blindfold off and released a stunning laser of his own on Weapon X, seriously wounding but not killing it. With the conflict already started and the life of a child in jeopardy, she raised her hand, cringing when it gave off a familiar red glow._

_SSSSS_

_As the doctor finally reached the ground, helping her little savior along the way, she finally saw the face of Charles Xavier, a kind-looking man with a mostly-bald head. As far as she could tell, most, if not all, of the rescued mutants were piled into a large helicopter._

"_I see that you could do it, after all," he noted._

"_You sent a boy into danger!"_

"_He was very determined about it…and I was protecting him."_

"_Is that so?" she snapped._

"_Don't be angry with him, Doctor," the young man calmly offered. "I told him I would go myself if he didn't help me."_

_Though she was still not satisfied, the brunette nodded, being very surprised by Xavier's next words._

"_I would like it very much if you came back to my school for a little while. I think you owe it to Scott."_

"_Maybe another time. I'm afraid that my reason for being here in the first place has not been satisfied._

* * *

><p>Wolverine trotted gruffly down the stairs after his workout in the Danger Room, contemplating whether to head into the kitchen for a fridge-raiding session or go on a run, if only to get away from the morbid silence that had infused every fiber of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters ever since the deaths of the Professor, Cyclops, and…Jean. After all of the conflict he had had with Scott over the woman they both loved, they were both gone. Storm was a brilliant leader, but it still wasn't the same.<p>

While he was still deeply involved with his inner debate, the doorbell suddenly rang. Unfortunately, he was the only one even within hearing of the front door as most of the students and teachers were still in classes. Walking as slow as possible, Logan finally reached the entrance and opened the great wooden door, barely being surprised by the rather attractive, twenty-five to thirty-year-old woman standing outside.

Her height was basically average, the top of her head being about even with the man's shoulder; she had full but mostly straight dark brown hair that reached just past her shoulders, icy blue eyes, and generally petite, yet strong, features, which were accompanied by a nicely-shaped figure, a trim, but not incredibly skinny, waist, a somewhat pale complexion, and strong-looking hands…for a girl. Her clothes comprised of loose pants that looked like army surplus and a close-fitting black leather jacket, while a giant brown duffle bag was slung over her shoulders.

After eyeing her up and down, trying to find some logical reason for the intrusion, Wolverine gave in and asked in his usually gruff fashion,

"Can I help you, lady?"

She didn't back down at his hard stare, but instead replied with a clear, unshaking voice, somewhere in the high-middle range and distinctly…either American or Canadian.

"Yes, I don't normally make house calls, but who can turn down such a job opportunity?" The woman distinctly noted his raised eyebrow. "My name is Doctor Bradford and I am your new M.D." He still didn't move. This lady was Jean's replacement? Dr. Bradford's perfectly-arched eyebrow rose to meet his present stance exactly. "All right, guard puppy, either you're going to let me in and 'take me to your leader' or I'll make you wear this bag for three hours straight and see how heavy it feels for you."

Reluctantly, Logan allowed the Doc to enter and started leading her to Storm's office, where the new 'Professor' was probably working on paperwork.

"You can control people?"

A thoughtful, comical grin flashed across the newcomer's face, displaying brilliantly white teeth.

"No, but I can dream. My powers possess a little more…finesse."

"Like what?"

Amusement quickly replaced the previous mood.

"Curious, aren't we…Metal-bones?"

Logan quickly looked back at Bradford, shock finally showing on his face before he at last walked through the office door without knocking. Storm looked up from her desk, clearly annoyed at the unannounced interruption, but the 'storm' quickly subsided at the sight of the doctor; she promptly stood and came around the table to shake the other woman's hand.

"You must be Dr. Bradford," Ororo offered.

"And you must be Storm. Please, call me Renee."

"Very good." With that, both girls seemed to zero in on Wolverine, clearly expecting him to vacate, though he feigned ignorance. "Logan, I am going to give Renee the grand tour…and could you please drop her things off in her new room…put her with Kitty."

Before Logan could protest at being shooed off like some bellboy, Renee actually beat him to it.

"I'm sorry, Storm, but, if it's not too much trouble, I'd prefer bunking near or in the infirmary if there's a place. I like to stay close to my work in case I'm needed."

Ororo seemed to hesitate, but she gave in in the end.

"We actually have an office for you down there; it branches off from the main infirmary…I don't think there's room for an actual bed, but we can get a cot. It won't be much and won't be nearly as comfortable."

Bradford seemed to smile to herself.

"I've slept on worse."

"All right, you and I will go ahead and go there first so that so you can see where you'll be working. There are some…things we need to discuss."

Still annoyed and curious as to why they didn't want him around, the man hesitantly turned to go, only to be stopped by Renee's shockingly hesitant address.

"…Logan?" When he turned around, her eyes were practically burning into his. The following question seemed to be more of a test than an actual curiosity. "Have we met before?"

Though the query initiated a closer study at their new medical doctor and though something did indeed seem vaguely familiar about her, he had absolutely no memories of the girl, though memories were exactly what he had been missing for years.

"Nope," he merely stated, walking out.

* * *

><p>The instant the revolving door allowed the girls into the white halls within the depths of the mansion, Renee let out a heaving sigh, the sparkling humor having disappeared and been replaced by a more serious, solemn stance. Storm couldn't help but laugh at the kindred spirit.<p>

"Logan can be a bit trying."

"How often is he like that?" the brunette groaned idly, stretching under the weight of her bag.

"More often than anyone I have ever met. I hope he hasn't scared you away."

As they walked toward the infirmary, the sorrow in the doctor's eyes seemed to deepen.

"I tend to get scared _into_ things rather than _out_ of them. Being a doctor here is the first thing in years where I haven't been pushed into doing it by forces I can't control."

"Speaking of previous endeavors, how is the Professor?"

Renee quickly peeked around to make sure no one was listening, even though they had just closed the door behind them to the medical center. The other woman dropped her bag and sat down at the metal desk in the tiny office before replying.

"He's still getting used to the transfer of his consciousness into the new body. It's a new experience even for him."

"You can't say that you were forced into that."

Dr. Bradford shook her head sadly.

"I'm still not sure if it was right for the Professor to hop into the body of his 'brainless' twin brother. I only came at his request from my clinic in Colorado to assist his recovery…I still don't know why. Dr. MacTaggert and I didn't exactly click with our medical opinions concerning the whole affair. If it was anyone other than him…"

Her words drifted off then and Storm couldn't help but be extremely curious as to what this girl's connection exactly was with Charles. She hadn't even heard of 'Dr. Renee Bradford' until a month previously when Moira MacTaggert, a geneticist with incredible knowledge concerning mutants, had called with the shocking news of Professor Xavier's animated state and referenced Dr. Bradford for their new M.D. Ever since then, she had worked tirelessly to keep the knowledge of Xavier's continued existence within a marvelously tight circle. Not even Wolverine knew about it, hence her determination to get away from him.

Finally, Ororo decided to break the not uncomfortable silence that had settled, looking around at the metal and glass box of an office. Being a woman herself, she knew that Renee would have a heyday filling the empty shelves and drawers scattered around.

"Well, I suppose I should leave you to get settled in. I'll have the bed and the files of everyone here sent down and I, or one of the others, can give you an actual tour. The kitchen is open any time for scrounging. When you're ready to discuss how we're going to break the wonderful news of my future demotion, I'll more than likely be in my office either teaching a class or doing paperwork." Renee nodded militaristically, moving to stand until Storm turned back from her retreat. "Oh, one more thing…why did you accept the position here? From what I gathered, you were pretty well-set-up in Colorado."

She was shocked when the answer had no hesitation.

"I was tired of being an outcast. A hundred and fifty years is a long time to not feel at home."

* * *

><p>Once Storm had finally left, Renee walked over to where she had ditched her bag, unzipped it, and dug through until she found her beloved picture of the man she had loved more than anything. Fondly holding the framed artifact against her chest, she walked back out into the quiet infirmary; <em>her<em> infirmary. Everything was shiny, clean, practical, and efficient-looking: just how she liked to work.

Her thoughts then wandered to Logan, the muscular, tough, suspicious man who had allowed her into the mansion. She knew him and knew his plight; though, he didn't remember any of it, she had been there when he had lost his memory and when his girlfriend had died. While she knew little of Logan's history before Weapon X and hadn't been given the file of either him or his brother Victor during her time with Stryker (she hadn't even known their last names), she still hoped to help him find the answers about his past…after she found her own. She had remembered how protective and handsome he was…especially handsome.

Caressing the picture in her arms, the woman whispered absentmindedly,

"I hope you don't mind my looking at other men, Lewis. You've been gone for decades, so it's not like I'm being unfaithful or anything. I haven't even really found any other men that appealing…except for Wolverine, that is. He's not even really my type. I usually prefer the boy scout, soldier-like…like you. He is similar to you with how defensive he is, though. Still, while I find him attractive, there's something that overwhelmingly keeps me back."

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Most of the story is written-out already and just needs to be perfected and have blanks filled in, so, hopefully, I'll be able to update this fanfic soon.


	2. Things of Interest

Thanks DragonRider2000 and MeldaTavar for you wonderful reviews!

Yay! A nice and timely update. I'm so proud of myself at this moment. *clears throat* This originally didn't have the last scene here, but I felt like it was a good addition. :)

Things of Interest

When Logan entered the infirmary two mornings later, after being nagged about it for an hour by Storm, he discovered the new doctor sitting at her desk on the right side of the office, poring over the dozens of files that lined her otherwise empty workspace. A cot that looked like it was made for camping was shoved against the opposite wall with her still-full, though unzipped and obviously pilfered-through, bag next to it, while most of the shelves and other surfaces were still empty. The only personal touch yet achieved appeared to be merely a black-and-white photo of a tall, blond-haired man in an old army uniform on the lowest ledge above the little bed.

"Made yourself at home, I see," he sarcastically stated, suddenly noting when the previously-focused woman looked up that she appeared to have stayed up all night, despite the fact that she should have been resting up for her first biology class that afternoon. Her chocolate hair was mildly tousled and there were slight circles under her expressive eyes.

The amused smirk from the other day returned as she looked around pointedly.

"You could definitely say that my husband did not marry me for my housekeeping skills."

"Husband?"

"Oh, he died a long time ago," Renee replied, brushing it off as if it was a minor thing.

Wolverine did not fail to see her discreetly close the three open files before her far too casually to be happenstance.

"That's okay…about the housekeeping. I'm usually the one making messes and leaving everybody else to clean up."

The girl giggled shortly with a muttered,

"Yeah…"

He then looked at the untouched coffee cup in his hand and handed it over…maybe to break the ice…maybe he could get out of whatever Storm had sent him here for.

"You need it more than I do. Now, do you mind telling me why our fearless leader wouldn't stop bugging me about taking a jaunt down here?"

With a laugh that somewhat reminded the mutant of a machinegun, Bradford stood with her coffee and walked out, obviously expecting to be followed, at which point he took the opportunity to quickly peek at the files so conveniently closed: his, Cyclops', and Jean's. What was their new physician doing with the files of two of their dead members?

"Are you coming, Logan?"

Rolling his eyes, Logan meandered his way into the main infirmary and took a relaxed position of leaning against one of the exam tables, though he was getting annoyed that he still hadn't been told the reason for his being here.

"Why did you call for me, Doc?"

Suddenly avoiding his gaze, Dr. Bradford took hold of her victim's arm and gently began probing it with her fingers, starting with his shoulder and slowly moving down towards his fingers.

"Shouldn't a new doctor make a point of examining all of her patients?"

"Why start with me?"

The now-humorless eyes stared up him; her jaw tensed as if desperately holding something back.

"I have my reasons, Wolverine. Now, let me see them."

"What?"

"Your claws."

"Why…" Her ever-more-deadly look made him think twice about continuing that sentence and he reluctantly obeyed; however, instead of looking with dumbfounded fascination at the adamantium projections, she simply nodded her head in satisfaction, giving him permission to retract the claws. "All right, I showed my scars; you show me yours." It obviously wasn't the best choice of unlocking this newcomer's mysteries, but it wasn't as if she could hurt him. And besides, mysteries tended to get on his nerves…at least ones he didn't know.

Instead of lashing out with some fabulous power, all that resulted was another rendition of that struggle for control, though she seemed to have a better handle on it this time.

"Please don't provoke me."

"Why not? All I know about you is that you're a doctor, a widow, and a rather bad housekeeper."

Before Logan could say anything further, he found himself being thrown over the exam bench and into the wall…hard. The strange thing was that it didn't feel as though he had actually been pushed, as he would with a physical or telekinetic shove, but rather as though he had simply sprouted wings and flown completely out of control on his own.

"What the…"

"I advise you not to swear around me, Wolverine," Renee threatened quietly, still standing coolly in front of the table as if nothing had happened. "We wouldn't want any more incidents, would we?"

"What…" Logan shook his head, baffled that she was actually succeeding in telling him what to do. "What was that?"

Despite his wonderful healing abilities, he limped a little in returning to face this new oddity.

"I can control things at the molecular level, hence the strange sensation you experienced when I threw you. I couldn't do the same thing to this table or any other solid, inanimate object; I'm not telekinetic. If I wanted, however, I could boil your blood in five seconds flat or serve you a glass of water by using the liquid to carry the cup. For instance…" As her example, the brunette caused the mug in her hand to hover two feet over the table. Once the cup was back in its proper place, she continued,

"Your 'powers' include your wonderful dagger fingers, accompanied by self-healing, long life, and heightened senses. You and I happen to have something in common with the healing and extended life, but instead of the spidey senses and knives in my knuckles, I can do whatever I want with molecules and sense when and how someone is injured or sick."

Logan shook his head, curious about this girl's real age, but not impressed otherwise with her powers after being around mutants for so long.

"Don't you have some kind of defense or attack ability?"

Renee's eyebrows shot up with the first sign of actually genuine humor sparkling in her eyes.

"Did I really throw you that hard?"

A growl threatened in Wolverine's throat. This doctor was more trying than he had originally thought.

"Yeah, but what are you gonna do when a dozen thugs coming charging at you on all sides." He didn't like the secretive smile that suddenly appeared.

"There is a wonderful beauty to secrets, however horrible they may be, is there not?."

"What kind of…?" The man cut off as he felt a familiar tickle in the back of his mind. It couldn't be… "I gotta go."

With that, he tore out of the infirmary without a single look back.

Back in the main hallway, he could see at least twenty of the students crowded in front of Storm's office door. As usual, without knocking, he stormed into the room, allowing the kids to flood the doorway in eagerness and shock. In the two chairs across from Storm were a man and a woman, both probably in their fifties or so, the man being mostly bald and the woman having dark hair piled into a choppy bun. When the man stood, the children weren't the only ones stunned.

"Logan, I was going to tell you, but I didn't think they would arrive for another week and…" Ororo was cut off by the rude new arrival.

"Professor!"

Charles Xavier, back from the dead and apparently able to walk, but still the Professor, gave one of his wise, mysterious smiles and responded with,

"It's good to see you again, Logan. It's good to see all of you."

Despite their previous bewilderment, the students, ten-year-olds and teenagers alike, instantly poured through the door to tackle the beloved teacher whom they had thought to be dead for nearly half a year. Wolverine held back, reserving personal suspicions about this sudden miracle.

* * *

><p>After the students had finally cleared out to go tell their classmates about the exciting news, the four adults were left still standing in the suddenly quiet room until Storm finally pointed to the strange woman, introducing her to Logan as 'Dr. Moira MacTaggert'.<p>

"Great, another mystery doctor," Wolverine growled.

"I could have just kept the Professor to myself, you know," Dr. MacTaggert snipped in reply with a holier-than-thou tone. "Besides, Charles was rather worried for some reason about how that little physician was getting along."

"I don't know why you keep calling her 'little'," Xavier droned good-humoredly. "She a good three times older than you."

She scoffed.

"I'll believe it when the proof is in my hands." At that moment, with a quiet knock, Renee entered, grinning contentedly at the sight of the resurrected principal. "Ah, Dr. Bradford…or whatever you go by these days. You decided to join us, I see."

"Yup, I did, Moira. Nice to see you too," the other brunette hissed back, still holding onto the smile. "Shouldn't you be going back to your hole in…wherever that was, now that you've dropped off the Professor?"

"Actually, I was going to stay for a week or two or three…I might even stay to help teach. After all, I heard about all of your recent losses. Wasted talent. Such a pity about those two in particular…what were their names? Scotch and Gem? Or Rick and Geraldine?"

"Scott and Jean," Logan corrected with a hint of a threat. He noticed that Renee seemed to be holding something back again, as apparently was usual when she was angry. But why would this stranger be so concerned over two people with no apparent connection to her? Or was it just her obvious rivalry with Moira?

Clearly attempting to relieve the tension, Storm cleared her throat and stepped out from behind the desk, saying,

"I return the throne to you, Professor. I'm sorry about my things still here."

"Keep it a few more days," Charles countered, waving her back. "I think I need a little time to get used to being back."

Sadness crept into his gaze, reminding Logan that this was (as far as he knew) the first time he had been in the school since the traumatic days before and after his death. Despite Storm's admirable effort to keep things going smoothly for the mansion, everyone felt a strange sense of loss and melancholy. With the Professor back, of course, some of that would be eased…if it really was him.

"Like I said, we weren't expecting you."

"Wait," Wolverine cut in, "we? What do you mean 'we'? I didn't even know Xavier was even breathing, let alone everyone else! Who knew about this?"

The sympathetic looks he got only made him more annoyed.

"'We' meaning myself, Dr. MacTaggert, Hank McKoy, and Dr. Bradford."

The man spun around to glare at the last-mentioned person, who still stood near the door, as if ready to bolt out at any moment.

"You knew about this? You knew and didn't say anything about it?"

With forced calm, she shrugged and replied,

"One, it was a secret I had sworn to keep; and two…I've only known you for two days. It's not like we're dating."

Oddly, those words seemed to trigger a memory of sorts.

_Logan was almost touched as the doctor beelined it to one of the just-freed mutant captives, a brown-haired boy with a strange blindfold over his eyes, and led him back over to the other two adults, holding his hand gently, with the excuse that he might prove useful. While he was still trying to figure out a good escape plan, Wolverine asked her,_

"_Why were you working for Stryker in the first place?"_

_The woman apparently in her early thirties shared a knowing glance with Kayla._

"_It wasn't as if I had a choice. Besides, why should I tell you anyway? It's not like we're dating."_

_Amused, the fighter shook his head, mentally hoping that the girl would get out safely. In some ways she was a lot like him: secretive, distrustful, and sarcastic. _

Realizing that, in reality, he was shaking his head, Logan looked back at Renee in disbelief, barely hearing Xavier when he asked if something was wrong. Finally, however, he managed to say,

"I do know you."

Bradford's eyes narrowed.

"Is that so?"

"Did you remember something, Logan," Storm asked, but she was ignored and Wolverine went on, his focus completely on the doctor.

"We were in some sort of facility helping a bunch of kids escape. There was another woman with us…and you were acting really protective over one of the prisoners in particular. He had a funny blindfold on."

Renee nodded, to everyone else's wonder, before slowly forming an answer.

"…the Island. A man named Stryker, whom you had worked with before, was experimenting on young mutants, trying to copy their abilities into one ultimate weapon, which he succeeded in creating. The woman, Kayla, died after you helped the kids get out by holding back Weapon X, Stryker's creation. I was brought in to monitor the health of the children while they were studied, not that Stryker really cared about their wellbeing.

"At first, he bribed me by promising to help me find what was left of my family. After I realized how horrible his work was and that wasn't enough enticement, he threatened to kill a mutant boy that I had grown quite fond of. That was the one you must have remembered. His name was Scott. You knew him also as Cyclops."

* * *

><p>A few days had passed since the Professor's return as Rogue, a.k.a. Marie, sat in a well-cushioned chair near a window facing the great fountain near the mansion. Technically, she was doing History homework, an essay on one of the many great American heroes in the War for Independence (something about paralleling the fight for freedom and justice for the old colonists with the modern struggle of the mutants for freedom and justice of their own), but, instead, the quiet, feisty girl with the eye-attracting white streak in her hair was staring outside. Dr. Bradford, the new doctor, had been sitting on the fountain grading a test her Biology students had taken that day when Logan sidled up to her and began conversing with his usual gruff reserve.<p>

The girl sighed dejectedly at the sight of the two mutants who had been feeling each other out, so to speak, ever since the physician's arrival; both possessed habitual secretiveness, suspicion, and bluntness. Rogue, on the other hand, was an outsider now, ever since she took the 'cure'. After returning to the School from her rebellious act during the chaos that had erupted between the X-Men and Magneto's forces, along with the radical political moves of the government, everyone had been gracious enough to let her return as if nothing had happened…but something had happened.

Now, with the Professor back, she felt even more humiliated that she had run to the very sort of people he had died fighting against.

While she tried to be happy that she could now hold Bobby's hand and steal a kiss or two in the hall, she was no longer one of the mutants. She constantly avoided any classes that involved using powers in the Danger Room or perfecting abilities because, while everyone around her used their own marvelous talents, she could only sit by and watch. Often had she been tempted to leave the mansion and start somewhere fresh, but she was tired of running from her fears and had fought too hard to give up the peace she had achieved in her relationship with the ever-understanding Bobby.

Ultimately, everything was terribly difficult, but the little joys of life seemed to make a satisfactory balance. Renee Bradford was an intriguing woman. During Marie's turn for a brief medical check-up for the doc to get familiar with her new patients, when the girl had been unable to show her mutant abilities because she had none, there was a strange understanding in the older lady's eyes. Though neither had said anything more about the subject, Rogue felt as though she and doctor had a new, special bond; somehow, in some way, both of them knew what it was like to have an 'ability' that turned your life upside-down.

"Rogue?"

The girl turned around in her seat to find her boyfriend in the doorway smiling at her.

"Hi," she responded quietly.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go into town and get something to eat there. I got permission from Storm _and_ Professor X, just to cover all grounds."

She smiled, narrowing her eyes at the unfinished paper.

"Sounds great! I can finish this later."

With one last glance out the window to find Renee suddenly scowling warily at Wolverine, Rogue slid out of the chair and gently grabbed Bobby's hand as he led the way out.

* * *

><p>"You have many questions, my new friend…perhaps a few too many for your own good," Renee muttered, glancing back at her nearly-done work. It amazed her how smart some of the students were. It was hard to believe that the only thing that often kept them from going to the most prestigious schools in the country was the fact that they were mutants…genetically different, but still humans.<p>

"Yes, well," the roguishly handsome and aggravating man replied, "usually the way things work in any place is this: oldie has the right to find out about the newbie."

She sighed, wondering if she should have just stayed in Colorado. It didn't help that she and this mutant she had met years ago were so similar in the worst possible ways…including that she could see in his eyes the same look that had haunted her when her husband had died.

"Does the pursuit of happiness and the right the certain privacy mean anything to you, Metal-Man?"

Logan ignored the rhetorical question, asking in his clearly usual, interrogatory tone,

"How do you know Scott and Jean so well that you think you have the right to go studying their files after they're already dead? I saw the papers on your desk. Is that why you're here? To go snooping around in things that aren't even your business?"

Renee sniffed indifferently at the man now in her face, trying incredibly hard to keep a lid on her temper.

"I take that as a 'no' to the right of privacy. Yes, I knew them, to a certain extent. Yes, it's my business. And no, it's not the reason I'm here. I am here because the Professor wanted me, because I thought it would help me find answers to why I can't seem to remember a darn single thing about my childhood before a certain age, and because I knew that I could possibly repay a debt that was formed on the very same day that you lost your memory, Logan." He opened his mouth with another question forming. "And no, I am not going to start filling in the blanks of your memory for you with the entire pitiful little that I know. You can't know where to fill in the missing words if you don't have a partial sentence to go by. I'm not your enemy, Logan. There's just hopefully a better way and time to do it."

"Okay."

The woman stared skeptically at the man. The fact was that she really could perhaps fill in a few blanks for him, as it were, but this wasn't the way to go about it. He had to somehow remember. (Being a doctor, such a challenge was incredibly appealing.) On the other hand, she had a priority to solve her own mysteries and repay her own debts first; she had put them off too long. This Wolverine character would just have to wait with his questions and problems, of which there were obviously many…and hopefully suppress his curiosity from further expansion.

Sadly, she had been unable to get to know him very much so far because, when he wasn't interrogating her about her past, her relationships with the Professor, Scott, and Jean, and her general existence, he was a rather quiet, unreadable, and to-the-point individual. There was something about that that drew her in. Unfortunately, she couldn't help but be defensive with his unending queries; it was just part of her nature anymore.

"Are you done grilling me yet, Logan?"

His calm, unreadable look came back.

"Fine."

Just then, the doctor got an idea that involved ground that she hadn't stepped on in decades.

"Wolverine, would you like to take me to dinner? I could use a drink and I haven't eaten since the Eggs Benedict I had this morning. Besides, I think you owe me."

Logan sighed in resignation for the fact that he probably did owe her something after all the skepticism he had put her through.

"There's grill a couple miles down the road."

Renee smiled contentedly at the wonderfully casual choice of dining. She had never been one for fancy restaurants.

"Sounds just perfect! Just, whatever you do, don't let me go for a second beer. Drinking has never been my strong suit."

* * *

><p>"Waitress?" Logan addressed the girl when she passed the couple's table as Renee finished her grilled salmon. He motioned to his companion's empty beer before continuing. "Do you mind getting my friend a refill?"<p>

"Logan!" the doctor exclaimed angrily as she dipped a paper napkin in her water to wipe the grease from her fingers. "I told you: no seconds."

"Now, now," he chided, suddenly feeling unusually…mischievous. "You told me that you don't remember anything from your early childhood. I want to share my personal tactic with you."

She scoffed.

"Drowning yourself in misery?"

"In a way," he replied nodding to the fresh glass of beer. "I can't believe you haven't tried this before."

Sipping her drink slowly, the girl suddenly turned thoughtful.

"I did try it…once. It never brings the memories I want. It only brings up what I want to forget."

"What is that?"

She pursed her lips sourly.

"My dead dearly beloved, that's what."

Discreetly sliding the drink away from the flippant lady, Wolverine decided to go along with her mood as he stared at her strong hands.

"What happened to your husband, anyway? I see that you don't wear a wedding ring or anything, so what, did you murder him or something?" the man joked, expecting the question to be perfectly harmless…until he realized that she didn't quite seem to share his humor.

"I…" The words seemed to stick in her throat for a moment before a smile that didn't reach her eyes covered any emotion. "I got angry one day and…well, I did warn you about crossing me…and my housekeeping. Get me a martini…or anything better than this swill."

Snatching her previously-rejected beer, Renee chugged it and remained silent for the rest of the evening, to both mutants' relief.

Thanks for reading and please review! Ooh, the Professor's back. Some characters just belong in the story. I couldn't leave him out.


	3. All These Lives

Thanks xmen4life for your review!  
>Sorry for the little delay. The internet in my area was out for about three days. :P<p>

All These Lives

The next month or so went by without much incident. Professor X went back to managing the school, teaching, and generally being his usual, universally-helpful self. Dr. MacTaggert had stayed to teach Chemistry, several levels of Math, and Politics, along with Storm doing Geography, Music, and basic defense skills, Xavier teaching basically everything about mutants and English, Wolverine doing most everything with fighting beyond elementary in the Danger Room and using powers for defense, Renee doing Biology and Health apart from her duties as the resident doctor, and a couple of other teachers taking care of a few other classes.

Though everyone still missed Scott and Jean, especially Logan, life in Xavier's School was almost back to normal since things with the government had, for the moment, finally calmed down. 'Metal-man', as the new M.D. fondly called him, had actually struck up quite the friendship with Dr. Bradford, finding that, once he actually got to know her and she let down her guard of shallow amusement and utter secretiveness, they had much in common. She was sarcastic, down-to-earth, and fairly suspicious, but it was clear that she still had many secrets, though why Wolverine had that feeling, he had no idea, as she was, after a while, incredibly open with him. It shocked the man when he discovered on the day he tested her fighting abilities that she was amazingly talented in both defense and attack, though, for some reason, she often avoided using her powers, a habit he continued to try weaning her off of each time they practiced.

Another odd thing about her…she frequently tended to bring up Cyclops. He gathered from that one memory and her obvious concern that she had known Scott, but he still didn't fully understand it.

At about seven o'clock on a warm, sunny Saturday morning, Logan trotted over to the infirmary, bent on inviting Renee on a jog.

Stopping at the doorway to the office, he instantly chuckled, seeing the woman in her now almost-traditional stance of staring at some file with her hair tousled, her lab coat still on, and looking as if she had spent the night at or on her desk.

"This was just a suspicion, but now it's official: you're a workaholic," he joked.

Dr. Bradford merely smiled tightly in the distracted manner that always seemed to come when she was apparently troubled by something. What made it even clearer was that her left hand was stuffed into her blouse, rubbing her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Hmm?" she questioned vaguely at first before the question actually settled in. "Oh, nothing. I'm just…remembering something that I haven't thought about in a long time."

"Anything in particular?"

"Nothing you need to worry about."

He could only nod in understanding until he noted her old duffle bag half-packed on the now-fully-furnished cot.

"Going somewhere?"

A determined look appeared as she closed the single file in front of her.

"Yes; I've already asked two of the faculty to cover for me for a week or so."

"Need some company?"

Wolverine didn't normally ask something like that, but he had honestly been feeling quite cooped up and…well, admittedly, he had gotten a little attached to the doc.

"No, this is something I need to do alone."

"Personal?"

"I suppose you could call it that. I'm going to try something that I never even dreamed of doing before…something that only I could do. If I fail…well, old debts tend to haunt you. Anyway, I have a few more things to take care of…like talking that witch, MacTaggert, into holding the fort down here as doctor."

Without another word, though with a kind smile and a pat on the shoulder, Renee walked out to pursue her dreaded objective. Old curiosities surfacing, Logan made sure that Bradford was gone before grabbing up the file left on the desk and opening it. Sure enough, Scott's name was in it, along with every possible background on him, medical and otherwise. Stuffed into back of the file was a sheet of paper with numerous hastily-written notes. This was the last straw with that woman's secrets. The Wolverine needed answers…and he would find them.

* * *

><p>Five days into her adventure, Renee stepped out of the trees, removing her bag and dropping it on the shore of Alkali Lake while noting the lack of singing birds. Just as she had heard, there were rocks, sticks, and water droplets suspended in the air all around the area, almost as if the effects of the Phoenix's telekinesis had been left in that place alone as a sort of tribute. She knew from Charles that Scott had been driven here by his sorrow (perhaps he had even been called by Jean). When he had come, the Phoenix took over and…all they had found were his custom sunglasses floating among the unnatural debris.<p>

Renee could, however, sense something else in the air besides sticks and stones…something that the others couldn't have seen: tiny droplets, molecules that had been left behind by the Phoenix's destruction. From her intensive research, including going to the house where the Professor had been 'killed', she knew that the Phoenix hadn't merely torn her victims apart, at least when focusing solely on them, such as in the cases of Charles and Scott, but she rather disassembled their bodies one cell at a time, leaving their soul and consciousness still intact somehow.

Taking a deep breath, the woman slipped a certain pair of sunglasses, which she had 'borrowed' from the mansion, from her bag and began to concentrate on those cells. Because of her research, she knew practically everything to know about Scott Summers, including his blood type and even potassium level…speaking of which, he needed to ease off on the salt.

At least an hour passed as Renee organized each molecule, her mind buzzing with tension and activity. Slowly but surely, she began to feel exhausted, weak, and parched, though she didn't dare stop to get a drink from the water she had brought for fear of ruining everything.

Thirst burned her throat, and her hands…no, her whole body shook. If she could help it, Cyclops would be in the same exact state he had been in before being killed, though hopefully better emotionally.

All of a sudden, she felt heat on her face as a laser shot by only a few inches away. She couldn't believe that she had actually done it! Barely able to walk without stumbling, the doctor managed to close the three feet between her and the man standing by the water with his eyes tightly shut and confusion evident on his face. When Renee put the glasses in his hands and he in turn put them on, Scott stared down at her dumbfounded, seeing her for the first time.

"Doctor?"

"Does this count as repaying the favor?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

The weakness suddenly overtaking her, the woman practically collapsed into his arms, though she jolted around with plenty of swiftness as Wolverine's growling voice abruptly came from the tree line.

"Doc, are you all right?"

She was slightly touched that, despite the fact that an old (not to mention dead) friend and rival of his was standing in front of him without a scratch, Logan's first words were of concern for her; however, that sentiment was trampled by anger.

"What were you thinking when you decided to follow me into the middle of nowhere in Canada when I specifically told you that I didn't want your company?" she fumed, her voice cracking more than once as she continued to lean on a befuddled Cyclops for support.

"I was suspicious that you were up to something big and dangerous. From your condition and the fact that good ol' one-eye is here and healthy, I guess I was right."

"You had no right to spy on me!" she spat back, raising her hand, only a flicker of regret emerging as it glowed red, and caused several trees behind Logan to explode.

At least a dozen sizable splinters shot into the Wolverine, who bent over in pain for a moment before quickly pulling out what projectiles he could, allowing the wounds to heal. While Scot had escaped the attack unharmed, Renee was then also removing a few wooden needles from her arms and torso as well. When the newcomer finally looked back, however, she was already concentrating on healing herself, it unfortunately taking a conscious effort for her healing abilities to kick in.

"What…what was that?"

"You're lucky I didn't do that to you, my friend. Weapon X, the thing you failed to kill before leaving your girlfriend to die with the excuse of a wiped memory, wasn't so lucky. Everything that has happened to me over the past three decades has been _your_ fault!"

"Doctor!" Scott protested, recovering from his stupor of suddenly being alive again and regaining his apparent ego.

"Call me Renee and keep your trap shut, Cyclops," she shot back before returning her attention to the now-miffed Wolverine and taking several steps towards him. "I spent a good hundred years trying to find answers and I came this close…" With that, she showed him an example by holding two fingers half-an-inch apart in front of him. "…just this close to getting what I wanted from Stryker and _you_ had to go starting a miniature World War III with your tangent of revenge…and now that I might be getting close again to getting my answers, here you are…yet again! It's because of _you_ that I keep having to fight this…curse aspect of my powers."

"Hey," he cut in grouchily, "I didn't make you have a hissy fit over me lookin' out for you."

"No, you did not," she snarled back, smiling sadistically and getting even more in his face. "Not only did you leave Weapon X unfinished, you left me with the corpse of your dearly beloved, with her blood on my hands, and nothing to defend myself with when he came out of the rubble to kill me…and he would have if Scott hadn't come along, blindfolded and all. It was your abandonment and my concern for his safety that forced me to use that horrible power, just as I had managed to suppress it. Now, because of you, I am slowly losing control.

"I've seen your file, Logan, and don't think that I don't know about your little regretful incidents with those claws of yours. You stab people; I…" The words just didn't want to come. It was a nightmare she had lived with for over a century. "I make them explode. That's what happened to Weapon X. That's the fate that faces any unlucky human being who is around the day I completely lose my temper. I thought that, by bringing Scott back, I could repay what he did for me in his part in saving my life and make up for what I did that day at the same time. Now, you've just reminded me of how I wanted to kill you."

"Kill me?"

"For leaving me, of course."

"You wouldn't do that."

His boldness still amazed her, despite her constant experience of it.

"Why not?"

"I happen to know that you're a doctor (a particularly good one, at that, from what I've seen). You won't even let me curse around you, let alone go around hurting people for revenge. You just condemned me for my own supposed warpath. Despite your gift of making things explode when your anger is out of control, you wouldn't hurt a single hair on my head, you bein' so ethical and all."

"The Hippocratic Oath," Scott noted, drawing the woman's wrathful gaze. "You swore to never harm anyone. You probably have a constant battle between your survival instincts as a mutant trying to live in the world and your duties as a doctor of medicine. You harm and you heal."

"Tough life."

Renee barked a laugh, saying,

"You have no idea."

The men exchanged amused looks.

"I wouldn't be so sure."

* * *

><p>After moving their little party to comfortable, two-bed hotel room in the nearest small town, Logan riding his motorcycle and Renee and Scott driving in the doctor's prized green 1972 Buick Riviera, the mutants finally had a moment's peace; however, while the woman was rifling through her duffle bag, looking for who-knew-what, Cyclops brought up the subject dreaded by both of his companions as he and Wolverine lounged in the two chairs by the little dining table.<p>

"So, why didn't Jean come with you? I understand that you're all probably busy, as always, but I would have expected to see her."

As dense as Logan could be, he could still tell from the other man's voice that he was actually afraid of the answer he might get. Luckily for him, Renee was the one who answered, finally ripping a medical file from her sack and hesitantly handing it Scott, who seemed disinclined to open it until he received a reply. Sitting and crossing her legs on the bed, she took a deep breath before asking laser-eyes,

"What do you remember last?"

"I heard Jean calling me telepathically and went to the lake. She met me on the shore and…I don't remember much after that. The next thing I clearly recall was you standing in front of me like you were going to pass out from exhaustion and Logan behind you with his mouth hanging open, ready to catch flies."

Wolverine glared at the Boy Scout. Even death wouldn't change him. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep the stare-down going for very long as he remembered that one-eye hadn't been around when… Dr. Bradford cocked her head, her eyes shining with sympathy.

"I don't personally know much about it, but files and friends gave me enough to tell you. When the water overtook Jean after she saved you when the dam broke, creating Alkali Lake, the part of her that Professor Xavier had suppressed for her protection, the bulk of her power…well…it took over and preserved her until you came along. It was called the Phoenix and, through that, Jean ended up siding with Magneto when the struggle between normal humans and mutants came to a head, and even killed Charles.

"In the end, even Magneto couldn't control her. She was ripping apart everything she could and Wolverine was the only one able to reach her." From the way Renee paused and twiddled her thumbs, one would have thought that she had been personally involved with the incident. On more selfish grounds, though Logan refused to look at Scott, he could still sense the disbelieving gaze on him. "He had no choice."

Finally, after several moments of silence, Cyclops looked back at the doctor, his glasses hiding any signs of emotion.

"The Professor?"

"Long story short, he was able to transfer his consciousness to another body and, as of fairly recently, he's back in charge of the school."

"How long?"

"You've been dead for about seven months, Scott. A lot has happened since you left."

Another minute passed with nothing happening. Luckily for Logan, he wasn't the only one who was uncomfortable. Renee had taken her car keys out and kept twirling the ring around her finger every few seconds. At last, however, Scott got up and headed for the door.

"I need a walk."

Several minutes passed without either occupant moving, other than the girl rubbing her shoulder again…that is, until Logan started fidgeting from the lack of action and finally asked,

"Well, what now?"

Again, she was disturbed from apparent thought.

"What?"

At that, the memory-lacking mutant stood and started to pace slightly, just to do something.

"We can't just let him wander around right after he finds out that his girlfriend died while he was out of commission!"

"Why not? He needs some space after all that's happened. Between me showing up, the Professor dying and coming back to life, and you stabbing his dearly beloved to death…" She either didn't notice or ignored the threatening growl that emitted from Logan. "…I think he has a right to have some alone time to process everything."

"He is going to do something dumb. Without Jean, what is there for him to live for?"

"Plenty; but how would you know different?"

Memories of the conflict he had had with Cyclops over their mutual affection for Jean and the pain and guilt he had felt after their deaths, no matter how much he tried to make himself immune, welled up. How did he know different?

"Because I've been in that boat before."

"Clearly not with your own girl."

That being mentioned at this particular time struck a chord of increasing irritation for Wolverine.

"Why do keep having to bring that up? I don't even know the name of this woman I supposedly loved in my past life, whatever it was, and, with the dreams I've been having lately, I'm not so sure I want to remember. What I do know is that I loved Jean and I was ready to kill myself when she died; but I knew that she loved Cyclops, as did he. I can only imagine what it's like for him, right now."

As soon as those words escaped, his mouth snapped shut. What had gotten into him? He never talked about such little things like emotion and romance. It just wasn't in his character…but there was something about Renee that made him want to open up to her. Did one of her powers have something to do with it?

While Logan was still glaring down at the stubborn brunette, she slipped on her thick, waterproof coat over her traditional V-neck leather jacket, stuffed her feet into the boots near the door, and turned back with a hand on the knob.

"If you can imagine what Scott feels from experience, then, me knowing your nature, you can probably imagine that he would want and needs to be alone, whatever he might end up doing, not pouring out feelings and wishes instantly to the nearest person. Not even I qualify for that. As for your little outburst, which I can also guess is uncharacteristic of you…no, I do not have the power of persuasion…unlike your girlfriend, Kayla. I was there when the two of were reconciled after she betrayed you to save her sister. You loved her more than life itself…and, though I didn't know either of you very well, I respected that."

Without another word, Dr. Bradford walked out, rubbing her hands in the cool air.

Wolverine, on his part, roughly turned the light out, contemplated dropping onto the couch, and ultimately followed the suit of his roommates on a quest to find Cyclops before he did something stupid, determined to ignore the swirling thoughts in his head. Between Renee's constant prodding and Xavier's curious inquiries a week previously, he was going to go crazy.

"_Brilliant demonstration, I must say!" the Professor praised as Wolverine, Renee, and about a dozen students emerged from the Danger Room after Xavier had sat in on a session for the more advanced youngsters. The doctor, who had decided to join in at the last minute, had held her own against the projected 'dangers' quite well, though Logan had admittedly helped her out a few times on…unnecessary occasions. After the woman and students departed to raid the kitchen, the man no longer in the wheelchair halted the remaining teacher's own retreat._

"_Logan, I can't help but notice that you're very protective over Renee."_

"_So? She just needed little help a couple of times," the man fibbed._

"_I'm not suggesting anything; I'm just…glad that the two of you are getting along so well."_

"_Good for me," he growled good-naturedly, not failing to notice that all-knowing smile on Xavier's face as he turned to go._

* * *

><p>Honestly, she was quite proud of herself…very proud of herself. In fact, she had never felt so proud in all her life. She had brought someone practically back from the dead and kept her personal secrets safe while single-handedly reminding Logan of his former life, which, whatever he thought or wanted, he was still connected to. Besides, it had never stopped haunting her. The least she could do was help him remember…whether he liked it or not. Even if she couldn't find her answers, she could at least help him find his.<p>

As it began to lightly rain, she wandered into an alley and discovered a stray cat, an orange tabby, lying under a large trash bin, just begging for attention. Even as the woman began getting comfortable in petting the friendless feline, however, she heard a husky, almost feral voice behind her.

"I knew that you can always find what you're looking for in the most unexpected places, Dr. Bradford, but an alley in middle of the night in Canada near Stryker's old base? You're either dumber than you look or you're still lookin' for those answers of yours."

When Renee turned to face the new threat, she knew instantly whom he was. Though his file had described him as having shaggy blond hair and being dead (courtesy of Cyclops' laser eyes), the Sabretooth standing at the end of the alley looked much more like his old self, probably thanks to his time away from Magneto. He was tall, muscular, and had dark brown, closely cut hair, a peculiar short beard that gave him a rather wolfish look, pointed canines, and sparkling gray-brown eyes: all in all, a roguishly handsome man…with the exception of his incredibly long fingernails. Whatever had happened between his supposed demise and this moment, he looked almost exactly the same since she had last seen him during the Weapon X project.

"Whatever you're involved in, Victor, I want no part of it," she snarled, trying to appear not intimidated despite her obvious disadvantage.

"The only thing I'm involved in, what you would care about, that is, concerns some mutual interests of ours. During the past year, I have been sort of…reclaiming myself…salvaging old files and pictures…triggering forgotten memories…seeking revenge where I can find it. I'd like to think that I am a new man…not mindless like I was around that snake, Magneto, but back to being just good ol' Victor Creed, if a bit older and wiser."

"The only thing you are is insane," came the retort as Renee began slowly backing away.

"I only have one question for you, Doc…what is your maiden name?"

"None of your business is what it is."

With a sneer, he dropped a thin black folder on the ground.

"Then I'll give you two words: James Howlett."

Obviously finished talking, Victor suddenly charged at the girl, who used her powers to drop him into the empty trash bin before running into the cleared street. Finding no sign of immediate help and knowing that Sabretooth would be chasing after her soon enough, Renee ditched her bulky coat, summoned water from the newly made puddles, and formed them into two foot-long daggers, steel-hard despite their liquid origins.

Thus armed she easily confronted the mad mutant when he came at her a second time, dancing away from his horrific claws and making several successive cuts on his back and face. Though her tactics were barely professional in the chaos, she was able to hold her own, not remembering until she tried kicking Victor in the head after managing to stab him in the shoulder that he had been healing with immense rapidity the entire time. Therefore, he was able to grab her foot before it could reach its target and twist it viciously around until she could feel the tendons begin to stretch beyond their limit, sending her to the ground.

Her daggers having disappeared from the shock of her fall, the doctor crawled speedily away, stood on her good leg, and concentrated on boiling the man's blood…until he sensed what was going on and once more attacked. With a victorious growl, he slashed his nails down the woman's left arm, breaking her focus to an unreachable point. Even when she reached out for a nearby rat to throw at him, it failed.

"Now can we have a nice chat?"

"I think not," a new person said. Wolverine, probably having heard the scuffle from wherever he was, had apparently come to see what the fuss was about and was now stepping in to defend the wounded damsel in distress

The two claw-bearing mutants were practically at each other throats for several moments of suspense until a blinding light emerged through the increasing rain and shot a gigantic hole through the same trash bin, which had previously served as the tabby's shelter. Seeing that he was now outnumbered and out-powered, Victor was hasty in flight, bouncing onto the nearest roof and disappearing into the evening.

Instantly, it seemed, both rescuers were at Renee's side, Scott checking the likely sprain in her ankle and Logan examining the bloody gash on her arm.

As soon as he moved to remove her leather jacket in order to get a better look at it, however, her slapped his hand away with no reserve gentleness whatsoever.

"Renee, this is no time to be obsessively conservative," metal-bones chided.

"It's not that. I…" All she could do was shake her head before he obstinately removed the jacket anyway. Just as expected, once the covering was off, leaving her brown sleeveless shirt, he stared at her shoulder as though he never seen a human appendage before. "Well, you wanted to see my scars," the girl joked, biting the inside of her cheek.

She didn't need to crane her neck to see what Wolverine was looking at since she had spent many evenings during her lifetime staring at it in a mirror and countless days rubbing that spot in hopes of triggering the memory of how she acquired it. The subject of interest was a scar, or rather three scars, trailing from the back of her left shoulder and curving at a slant over it to her upper chest like thin scratch marks. She had always worn that little V-neck jacket over whatever shirt she happened to be wearing because it guaranteed that the scars would remain hidden.

Renee flinched and quickly swiveled her head to look at Logan, who had just extended a set of his claws and held them next to the white lines on her flesh. As soon as he did that, all three mutants were overcome by wonder. The spacing of the marks was completely wrong, but if the man's hand had been the size of a child's, it was a perfect match. Did he somehow inflict it upon at some point, was there another mutant with such defining marks, or was it some strange animal attack? With his mouth ever so slightly ajar, Wolverine locked eyes with the doctor before asking the question all present would have loved to know.

"Who did this to you?"

"Good question," both Scott and Renee responded, the former in suspicion and the latter in casual curiosity. Wonderment taking over, the doctor finally queried,

"Logan…does the name 'James Howlett' mean anything to you?"

"No," he answered. "Why?"

"It might be a piece of the puzzle which is your memory," she stated cryptically, grabbing the folder that had been dropped by Victor, folding it up and stuffing it into her coat pocket when Cyclops handed it to her and happened to not be looking.

His claws. Her scars. That name. It was impossible.

Shaking off the men's grip on her, she managed to heal the wound on her arm, though she decided to wait until she had recovered a little to fix the leg.

* * *

><p>As the trio vacated the alley, a figure watching their progress from the roof smiled with curious amusement.<p>

"I knew there was something strange going on here," Magneto commented. "It seems…I have a reunion to arrange."

Thanks for reading and please review!


	4. Dragnet

Thanks LillianaKay2011 , DragonRider2000 , and Vanilla Cookie for your reviews!

Just as a quick note, the first scene isn't really in anyone's point of view. :) I honestly expected this chapter to be a bit more revealing mystery-wise, but it ended up being so long that I had to split it in two, leaving the actual 'unveiling' in the second part. :P I should be posting the other section within a couple days. Enjoy!

Dragnet

A week or so after the rogue trio returned from their Canadian venture, between the doctor's Biology class and Wolverine's advanced combat class, Renee, Scott, and Logan were in the Danger Room practicing fighting against six holographic mutants. Normally (for these three old friends had met to practice every day almost since their return), they helped each other in defeating the outnumbering opponents; however, this day was a bit different.

Ever since the day before when the two men had dropped by the physician's office within five minutes of each other to 'chat' and give her a caffeinated drink, only to have the result of commencing a glaring contest in front of her, both mutants were just a little…edgy. It hadn't helped that she decided right then to announce that she was a strict tea drinker and abhorred coffee, unlike what she had allowed the 'metal-man' to believe previously…what made it even worse was that Scott had, by chance, brought the right refreshment, unlike his poor apparent rival.

Right then and there, the woman had tried putting a stop to it, but Cyclops and Wolverine were the type of people who didn't let things go just because someone told them to do so. Now, they were actually _trying_ to make each other fail just to make themselves look good for Renee. The subject of their unusual mooning, on the other hand, did her best to ignore their boyish antics. Though she seemed rather distracted in her own way, she was generally focused on her work. Just that morning, she had officially cleared Scott to return to work, including retaking his place as the X-Men leader.

Just as Renee was about to take out her second projected enemy, a blue slime-spitting fellow standing at about six feet, and while the other two fighters were still trying to trip one another, a notoriously mischievous technician messing around with the holographic controls in the viewing room suddenly hit a certain button which allowed certain aspects of the 'game' to be real. The result: all three mutants were sprayed and soaked with blue goo before they finally finished off the enemies.

"What the…heck…what the heck was that?" Wolverine yelled, glaring at the now-empty viewing room and shamelessly spitting on the floor in hopes of clearing his mouth of the plastic-tasting substance. His moody companions were likewise attempting to rid themselves of the slime, though with a bit more discretion.

"Now, don't go trying to take the poor kid's head off, pal," Cyclops returned, trying to find a clean spot on his shirt with which to clean his glasses, but ultimately giving up. "I'm sure it was just an accident. The Professor was mentioning something this morning about a glitch in the Danger Room and that boy was trying to fix it. Obviously, he succeeded…just with bad timing and abilities a little rough around the edges."

"Sure, go ahead a put a good face on it. That _prankster_ did it on purpose," Logan growled, though he no longer seemed inclined to dismember anyone. "…Boy Scout."

"Grizzly bear," the other mumbled back.

"Gosh! Would you two just get along for two seconds today?" Renee demanded, trying desperately not to have a spitting fit just to get rid of the disgusting flavor of the projected goo. "I swear if you don't start at least _acting_ like you're not sworn enemies, I'll tranquilize both of you, steal the X-Jet, and drop you off in the middle of the Sahara with nothing but a single water canteen. Now, move aside. There's a shower with my name on it."

The instant she moved towards the exit, both men rushed toward the door to open it for her, only to collide with her and each other. While Scott and Logan merely glared, Renee, having been in the middle of the impact, went bouncing backwards, landing unceremoniously on the hard floor.

Logan barely held back a chuckle at the huffy, gel-covered girl with soaked, sticky hair clinging comically to her face; however, Scott chivalrously ran to help her up. Dr. Bradford, on the other hand, was no longer in any tolerating mood whatsoever and slapped away the offered hand prior to storming over the door with a glance daring anyone to try opening it for her again.

"Both of you, stay away from me," she growled.

After she was gone, the remaining two couldn't help but laugh at the entire situation. Again, they were both after the same woman; only this time, she wasn't inclined to deal with either of them.

"You know," Scott noted, using his fingers to get some of the goo off of his sunglasses, "while she seems to like the 'straight-and-narrow' type more, she seems to be acting more and more like you every day."

Wolverine scoffed, catching onto the good humor.

"She's already been on a date with me, though."

"That was before I came along."

"In your dreams."

* * *

><p>"<em>Howlett, James…birth year: 1837…suspect in father's murder, who was found with mysterious stab marks in abdomen…brother of…Victor Creed…status: rogue; memory wiped… It couldn't be…it just couldn't…<em>"

Though it was admittedly quite rude under normal circumstances, Charles' concern for Renee's wellbeing had driven him to listen in on her mumblings for a brief moment as evening fell as she scanned over a file apparently given to her by Sabretooth before he attacked. Ever since her return from Canada with Logan and a very-much-alive Scott three weeks previously, Dr. Bradford had practically holed herself up in her little glass office, teaching her classes, checking her occasional patients, and staring in bewilderment at two files that had not come from school or infirmary archives: her own and one belonging to this mysterious 'James Howlett'. When not doting over her new obsession, the doctor would go on walks with Cyclops that lasted for hours in the evening or, when Wolverine wasn't in the Danger Room, she would practice fighting with holographic creations of a new and improved Sabretooth.

Worry boiling over, Xavier finally reached out to the woman with his mind and called out to her.

"_Renee, can you come to my office for a few minutes? And bring that file you toted with you from Canada._"

When the summoned lady arrived, wearing gray sweat pants, a light blue V-neck shirt, and her white lab coat, and carrying the mysterious black folder under her arm, he noted her relief to see that no one else was there.

"You called, oh wise and noble Professore?" she queried, leaning on the desk with her fingertips.

"Yes, I have noticed that you are spending a lot of time on your project…namely, with that particular file."

"Well, sir, you did say that I could work on it as long as it did not interfere with my job. Have you noticed any slack in my efforts or me getting behind in any grading or appointments?"

"No, but what do you think? You may not be falling behind yet, but everyone has noticed how tired, distracted, irritable, and reclusive you are."

Anger flashed in her eyes.

"I am not…!" Cutting off, she took a breath to calm herself. "I'm not irritable."

"When I agreed to let you search for answers concerning your early childhood, I expected you to conduct yourself like the mature woman you are; I also expected you to ask for my help."

"I'm sorry, Professor, but, when I went up to Alkali Lake to bring Scott back, I didn't expect to have my curiosity thrown in my face and be more baffled than ever."

"Perhaps I can now be of assistance…?"

After contemplating over the file for a moment, Renee gently handed it to her boss, who promptly opened it. Inside was practically an entire summary of the life of James Howlett during and prior to the 1970's. What had probably caused the girl's distracted shock was the picture that went with it…it was Logan.

"Now you know."

"This would reveal practically all of Wolverine's past and I'm sure he would be relieved by it, but what does this have to do with you?"

"I think I can give a fair guess," someone offered. Charles swiveled around to find Magneto standing in his office in his full costume, having come through the now-open window.

"What are you doing here, Erik? Have your powers back, I see."

"Nice to see you too, Charles. How have you been? Can't an old friend just drop by to say hello?"

"Under the circumstances…no."

"Oh…well, in that case." With that, the arch-nemesis of the X-Men lifted Renee up into the air and brought her to float beside him. "I don't know how it works for other people, but that mutant 'cure' actually retreated and, not only did it return my former power…it gave me a few new ones. Now, don't be jealous, Charles. I have plenty of uses for the dear doctor. Besides, a little revenge never hurt anyone. Do take care, old friend, and say hello to Wolverine for me."

Concluded with his traditional ranting speech, Magneto lifted himself into the air and, to Renee's obvious distress, flew out the window and into the distance. Only then did Storm, Cyclops, and Wolverine come charging into the room.

"What happened?" Scott demanded, his fingers poised and ready to remove his sunglasses. Happily, the former and returned leader of the X-Men had settled comfortably back into the general routine, though his sorrow for Jean's death was clear. "Where's Renee?" The last part was echoed by Logan.

Still trying to fathom how Erik had returned to the world of mutants without him hearing of it and noticing that the black file on his desk was also gone, Charles replied,

"Magneto is back."

* * *

><p>"<em>Using Cerebro, I discovered Renee in a new facility about seven miles north of Alkali Lake. Magneto is failing to completely shield her from my sight, so I can only assume that he is purposefully trying to draw us in. If you are to strategize a rescue mission, it must work around the probability that this is a trap."<em>

"Are you sure this'll work?" Scott asked as he and Logan headed for the X-Jet from the 'locker room'. Even though he was team leader, he still felt more trusting of Wolverine's opinion lately, despite their continual conflict.

"It'd better work. Why do you think he took to the doc, though? I know he's creative with those crazy plots of his, but what does he want with a mutant who can control molecules? Is he back at trying to change human DNA again?"

"You know, that almost sounded intelligent."

He received a pointed glare from the other man for the tease.

Despite all circumstances, Cyclops couldn't help but feel some slight resentment for the part Wolverine had in Jean's death. While he had done a rather good job at hiding it, the sorrow for the loss was still too deep to forget. Still, Renee's presence somehow seemed to soothe the many hurts surrounding the school. During his short time back at the mansion, he couldn't help but see how content the students, teachers, and overall environment seemed with the doctor around, regardless of her presently distracted state.

"Are we ready?" Storm asked, already waiting by the X-Jet with Iceman. In spite of his scramble to finish school and apply for colleges nearby, Bobby had remained loyal to the X-Men, forming tight friendships with his teammates, including Renee, who had accompanied them once or twice during the past month.

"As ready as we can be."

"What's the plan?" Bobby queried, having only volunteered after finding out about the rescue at the last minute.

Storm was the one to answer as she steered the jet into the air. Scott could tell from the tension in her voice that she was fighting to not use her powers to stir up a little wind to make the vessel go even faster. It was amazing, but not surprising, what an impression Dr. Bradford had made on the school residents.

"Magneto has taken Renee to what we believe to be his new base near Alkali Lake. We have no idea where she is inside because the Professor was somehow blocked before he could look further…so, we're going to infiltrate it by landing on the roof with the X-Jet in stealth mode and sneak in through the ventilation. We can only hope that Magneto doesn't have an army stored in there as well."

"Do you think that would actually stop us from getting in?"

* * *

><p>Storm glanced back at the three supremely determined men behind her and didn't even bother to answer Logan's incredibly obvious question. Even if she did manage to take command from Cyclops and end up pulling the plug on the mission due to unnecessary danger, she knew that it would be all but impossible to hold her teammates back. Besides, losing one of their own to a kidnapping tyrant wasn't exactly something of which they were in the habit.<p>

Ororo herself considered the girl an excellent asset and a dear friend; Bobby was well on his way to seeing the doctor as sort of a big sister; Scott had clearly known Renee previously through their mutual dealings in the past and very noticeably favored her, though the closeness of Jean's death seemed to still hold him back from any feelings beyond those of friendship, as far as she could tell; Logan was prominently protective and concerned for Dr. Bradford, however they tended to squabble, and also seemed to have a soft spot for the feisty, dear physician, particularly since they both possessed mysterious histories.

"We're here," she finally announced some time later, cautiously lowering the jet onto the roof of the huge, of course metal, building. She didn't dare produce a cover of fog or thunder as Magneto knew from past confrontations that the female mutant often used her power for diversions and camouflage.

With silent footsteps, the team slipped across the roof and carefully opened a hatch that revealed the tinny rectangular tube, just large enough to crawl through, which made up the ventilation system of the building.

"Ladies first," Logan offered sarcastically.

Before Ororo could respond, Cyclops promptly and quietly slipped forward and into the hole. With that decided, Storm went second, with Iceman following and Wolverine bringing up the rear. The woman had to hold back a snicker at how Logan's bulk barely fit in the available crawl space with enough room to actually crawl. She could also barely hear him grumbling about the ridiculousness of the entire secrecy of the affair.

About three minutes into their creeping, Scott stopped at an air shaft, which, as they discovered from peering through four others, Storm could guess was around fifteen feet above the floor in the ceiling. A final difference, however, was Magneto's voice echoing into the shaft from the area below, a large metallic hallway.

"Don't worry so much, Radar. I know they'll come. They always do…" He cut short when his companion hushed him.

If Storm had been looking through the grill as Scott momentarily was, she would have been shocked to find Magneto staring directly at her, despite their absolute quiet. What she did notice in her present position, however, was that Logan was gone and Bobby was just then disappearing into a hole made by the bottom giving way to reveal a slick ramp of some sort leading into nowhere: an obvious trap. Further noting was interrupted as the woman was swept into a slanting tunnel of her own. Despite all efforts to find a crack or stray cord to hang onto and stop her fall, she found none, plunging down the metal slide and trying to mentally prepare herself for whatever could possibly be at the bottom. Suddenly, the tunnel gave way to air, and air to hard floor. Sitting up slowly, she discovered herself in a small, ten-by-fifteen-foot cell or cage of sort…it was too dark to tell. She only knew that she had been captured.

On his part, Wolverine, who had been the first to be swallowed up by the abyss, had automatically stuck his claws into the flawless walls of the tube, but his claws went through the material like paper and he kept falling, only stopping when he dropped into a solitary little room with no windows or escape means of any kind. With nothing better to do at that moment, Logan instantly began pounding and scratching at the apparent door, ignoring the fact that his claws were barely making even the slightest mark on the hard surface.

Bobby, the second to go after hearing the beginnings of his companion's tumbling, also went sliding down to nowhere and attempted to use his power to halt his descent, shooting ice to create a block against further downward movement; however, his dam, strangely, hardly worked at all and he ended up crashing through the ice and falling unexpectedly into a cell of his own. In his case, though, the unprepared and awkward angle of his landing ended up knocking him senseless.

On his part, Scott, who had seen his friends go plummeting before him, had the senses to instantly brace himself against the shaft walls as soon as his own support opened and sent him sliding. The friction of his suit against the tunnel's side successfully slowed him to a near stop…that is, until the metal suddenly started to rapidly heat up after a few seconds, forcing him to release his victorious hold and continue down the dark passage. Ultimately, the fall landed him in his personal, puny accommodations, which, after a minute of recovery, he eagerly searched for an exit, though there was none to be found.

Apparently, Magneto had been expecting them for a while.


	5. Lacking Amity

Thanks xmen4life and DragonRider2000 for your reviews!

Hehe. I just looked up Magneto and found out that his real name is spelled with a 'k', not a 'c'. Details, details...

Lacking Amity

Pacing his office with an open file in hand, Magneto scanned the paper, saying the highlights of it out loud.

"Renee Bradford; MD; worked at a small clinic in Colorado for twenty years; worked for…Stryker…hmm…" Snapping the file shut, Erik looked up at the caged woman nearby with idle surprise. "Well, well, don't we have a colorful history?"

The woman standing right behind the bars stared at him with a set jaw and a blank expression, her cold blue eyes studying every crease on his face. He was actually quite shocked that she hadn't tried to use any of her powers on him.

"We all have our bumps along the road. You, I happen to know, have had many. And _none_ of them have anything to do with me. So, why go through all this trouble just for a physician? Do you plan on trying to mess with the humans' DNA again?"

The freedom fighter sighed, setting the file on the desk and picking up another: the black folder he had snatched from Charles' office.

"I don't suppose the name 'James Howlett' means anything to you?"

Her lips tightened ever so slightly, just enough to give Magneto a hint that he had hit a nerve.

"I'm following up a lead. It, like everything else, has nothing to do with you."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that, my dear doctor. Over the years, I have been gracious enough to let the X-Men go about their business, even joining forces with them after they ruined one of the most memorable plans in history and made sure I was locked away. Because of our last little encounter, however, I have been reduced to completely rebuilding everything I ever accomplished. They, most significantly Wolverine, took away my power and everything that made me who I am. That is all about to change."

Other than the remaining tense jaw, Renee leaned forward with practically complete calm as she responded,

"I still don't see where I come into this mix. I've only been at the mansion for a couple months…that's hardly what I would call a base for being inseparable."

"One, Charles and his minions have always been very protective of their own; and two…you _do_ know at least a few of them from the past. Don't try denying it, Dr. Bradford. I know that you were familiar with the Professor, Cyclops, Wolverine, and even Jean Grey before creeping out of your hole in Colorado. There is, however, one special advantage to kidnapping _you_, other than the fact that a whole team of X-Men chased after you and fell right into my trap… Wolverine seemed quite attached to you, and he seemed quite shocked to find those little scars on your shoulder in that dark alley. How old could you have been when you got them? Eight? Ten?"

"I was five…and I don't remember anything before waking up with a bandage around my chest, my mother hovering over me as a broken-down emotional wreck, and finding that I had just been left fatherless by some disgruntled employee and that my brothers had run away. That was probably…oh, maybe a hundred and fifty years ago, at this rate. Again, I still don't get what this has to do with your revenge thing against the X-Men."

Magneto sighed, finally deciding to stop playing with this girl.

"Renee, I know that you possess more knowledge about your past than you're admitting. I know all about your childhood in growing up with your mother, becoming a nurse, and marrying a nice army man before eventually killing him when the two of you got in a little row. I know about how you left because you couldn't stand the haunting memories and the trail of suspicion that led to you being a mutant, how you became a doctor, searched tirelessly over the decades to find the missing links, and landed yourself as the medical doctor for Stryker's little mutant lab rats when he offered you some glimmer of hope with the promise of information concerning your brothers.

"Only…he never told you, the power not used since your husband's unfortunate demise resurfaced in the explosive killing of Weapon X to save a witless boy, and you eventually went into a sort of exile. Of course, you couldn't resist stopping by at one point to see how your pet, Cyclops, was getting along. And, of course, you knew Wolverine from Stryker's, as he was responsible for you losing your chance of finding answers. I have your file from the Weapon X project, I know that you took back your maiden name after your husband's death before changing it back in Colorado, and I know that the name 'James Howlett' doesn't just mean _something_ to you. It means _everything_."

Now, she was fighting to keep a straight face.

"Then, you also know that Logan and Sabretooth, aka Victor Creed, are brothers."

"Indeed."

Renee licked her lips quickly in resigned worry.

"And the others? If Wolverine is your main target, as he seems to be, why keep them?"

"Though they do not bear the brunt of my vengeance, they certainly will not escape it. And Scott Summers…I'll keep him as a warning to you. It's quite simple really; if you try to escape or do anything otherwise foolish, he dies."

Bradford's chest significantly expanded as she took a breath before giving the other mutant a tight smile.

"I want proof that you're holding my friends. I want to see them _myself_. We wouldn't want the possibility of some technical tampering, eh?"

At the last word, Magneto rolled his eyes as he unlocked the cage from where he stood.

"Typical Canadian. I will show you to _one_ of your friends. You have a choice between Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, and the cocky boy called 'Iceman'."

"Since it's to save Scott's life that I'm choosing not to kill you right now, I want to see him."

"I suppose that's only fair."

Leading Renee out into the metallic hallway and being joined by two black-clothed rookie guards, the young man having the ability to control electricity and the woman having acid tears that could eat through practically anything, Eric led his composed captive through a few turns until they reached one of the sections with holding cells. From the first cell there emitted the terrible screeching noise of metal scratching against metal.

"Well, that one's pretty obvious," the doctor joked before curiosity seemed to take over. "How did you manage to catch them all and keep them locked up?"

"With how predictable all you X-Men are, I made sure that the ventilation was the only way for anyone to infiltrate this base and took…precautions that they would fall smoothly into my trap once they crawled into one of the trap-door areas. The chute was made thin enough so that Wolverine couldn't use his claws to any advantage of his and one of my compatriots used his heating abilities to encourage the falls of Cyclops and Iceboy. I was able to acquire just enough adamantium to provide a thin lining for all of the cells. Quite the operation it was to find."

"Compatriots? Don't you mean 'minions'?"

"I need you alive for now, Doctor, but I pray you not to tempt me."

At that moment, the group reached the last cell. Magneto made a mental note as Renee unconsciously straightened her frumpy lab coat to take advantage of whatever feelings she had for this resurrected upstart at some point. Ever since he had spied on the woman during her last trip in Canada, he had wondered what the possible reasons could be for her to go through all that trouble just to save Scott Summers.

* * *

><p>Idly leaning against the wall of his cell, but still scanning every inch of it for a weakness, Cyclops mildly wondered how long Magneto was going to leave him locked up as memories ran amuck through his mind. He remembered his last run-in with Renee before he had 'died', the first time he had actually seen her after the whole mess of the mutant experiment when he was a boy. During the time of his capture, when all those strange people were using him as a dumb lab rat, her calming voice had been his only encouragement.<p>

She had checked on every single mutant child throughout those days of fear and ignorance, making sure that their other captors didn't hurt any of them. Every day, Scott had talked to her and learned little details of her life that were clearly rare treasures of pain and sorrow that very few had had the grace of hearing. He knew her soothing voice more than anyone's, other than Jean's.

"_What time is it?"_

_Jean Grey laughed, shaking her head as she checked watch._

"_Scott, you really need to wear a watch more often. It's about…just before six."_

"_Hmm," the twenty-six-year-old man hummed with a mischievous smile, putting his arm around the beautiful woman with him. "Just before six on a Friday with the sun setting in the heart of New York City. How about dinner? Come on, pick any place!"_

_Wrapping her arm around his waist, the medical student guided her lover down the street._

"_Remember where you took me for our first date?"_

"_That little place? When we could eat at the Four Seasons?"_

"_Yes, 'that little place'. It's _our_ place."_

"_All right; whatever my girl wants."_

"_It's _exactly_ what your girl wants," she laughed._

_Their fondly teasing mood was interrupted suddenly as they walked down a small, two-way road toward their destination by a loud yell from a bar ahead. Following a few crashes, the sounds of glass breaking, and a large man barreling through the wood and glass door onto the sidewalk, a woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair and, while she was still thin, having a slightly stronger build than Jean, came casually strolling out._

_Another man from the tavern soon emerged after her, nearly trampling his male predecessor in the process, and grabbed the strange woman by the arm before her calm stroll could take her too far._

_Beside Scott, his girlfriend furrowed her eyebrows, occasionally glancing at him with a 'well, are you going to do anything?' look._

"_You aren't leaving now, are you, pretty lady? You and I have a score to settle," the offender growled with distinct slur._

_While the brunette admirably held a perfectly unflustered expression, a slight thinning of her lips indicated either irritation, fear, or pain from the tight hold on her arm._

"_Listen, Mister," she returned with no anxiety whatsoever, "I won that money from you fair and square. I can't help it if you're poker face was as discreet as a chimp."_

"_Don't think I'll let you get away with that, Missy. No one messes with me."_

_A strange intensity entered the lady's eyes as she glared at her attacker. He wanted to help, but some curiosity held him back. Her voice was so familiar. That strong, soothing tone._

"_Listen to me very carefully. I don't want to hurt you. And you're drunk. It wouldn't be a fair fight for you."_

_Enraged, the man moved as if to hit his cool victim, but Scott reached him before he had the chance and threw a punch that very nearly knocked him unconscious. _

"_Are you all right?" Jean asked the woman upon approaching, helping their new acquaintance in standing._

"_Yeah, I'm fine. I could have taken him out easily without leaving him with a black eye, but I appreciate the help anyway."_

"_Well, he has a habit of saving damsels in distress," the studying doctor chuckled. _

"_A good trait that most men don't have anymore," the other woman responded with a humored shake of the head before offering her hand to her saviors. "I'm Renee, by the way: Dr. Renee Bradford. It's been a while since I've been in the big city. I'm actually just on a two-week vacation from my clinic in Colorado."_

"_Whew, you traveled a ways! Any particular reason why you came here?"_

"_I was just about to visit a friend tomorrow in the North Salem area for a couple of days. Any idea where that is?"_

_Jean glanced at her companion again._

"_I'm going to medical school right now, but Scott and I basically live at the School for Gifted Youngsters."_

"_No kidding? As in, _Xavier's_ School for Gifted Youngsters?"_

"_The very same," Cyclops finally put in. "I'm Scott Summers, by the way, and this is my girlfriend, Jean Grey."_

"_A wonderful pleasure to meet you, Jean…and…" A strange look flashed across Renee's face as she confirmed Scott's suspicion. "…I believe we have already met, Scott, though you have never actually seen me."_

"_So it is you."_

_For a moment, the man stood there studying the woman who had been his savior more than a decade in the past…until Jean cleared her throat, saying,_

"_Um, do you guys mind filling me in on what I just missed?"_

_Finally breaking her intense gaze away from Scott, Renee turned her attention to the up-and-coming medical professional._

"_I'd be happy to, but it's sort of a long story and I don't really want to get involved in anything to do Charles' grand scheme with his school and the X-Men, so just consider me a very temporary guest dropping by to say 'hello'."_

"_That's a deal. Scott, would you mind if she joined us for dinner?"_

"_Absolutely not!" Dr. Bradford objected with a slightly awkward laugh. "I wouldn't interrupt the evening of two lovebirds like you."_

_Seeing Jean's eagerness, Cyclops decided to try with,_

"_Trust me; if you say 'no', Jean won't give up and you'll find yourself at the restaurant in a sack rather than as our guest. Besides, I would love to know what happened to you after the Professor brought me to the School."_

As she said, Renee had stayed for a few days, mostly spending her time with the Professor, but sometimes visiting and befriending Scott and Jean, and almost avoiding anyone else as though she was afraid to get too attached to the place. After that, she had disappeared back to Colorado and Cyclops hadn't heard or seen anything of her before she brought him back at Alkali Lake. While he felt curiosity in that renewed moment of consciousness, his sorrow over Jean had still been there just as strongly as when he had come to the place. What made it even harder was that, while he silently mourned that loss in the back of his mind, everyone else seemed to be moving on, having had months of recovery from the shock.

The opening door in front of him knocked Scott back into reality. In the doorway stood Magneto and Renee in a rumpled lab coat and gray sweat pants, with two guards barely in sight nearby.

Almost the instant the barrier was gone, the peculiar woman briskly walked forward and roughly embraced him, growling next to his ear,

"What were you thinking, coming after me?"

"Only what's natural," the man replied without missing a beat, looking straight into her eyes, though his were inevitably blocked from her sight.

"You couldn't think of anything better than the air vents? Logan I would certainly expect to come charging in and I would expect Bobby to dumbly slip in through the roof, but you and Storm…I would have thought you would be a little smarter about it."

Irritated beyond description, she shook her head, nevertheless grasping both of the half amused, half bewildered-by-her-behavior Cyclops' hands in her own.

"You've seen him. Are you satisfied," Magneto queried, still standing at the door.

Him? Why would she want to see him more than the others?

With a hint of a sneer playing on her face, Dr. Bradford turned away and slowly retreated back towards the criminal. Her entire mannerisms reminded Scott a little too much of Wolverine. It was obvious that she had spent years training herself to remain calm, as anger seemed to trigger her more lethal ability, but, momentarily, she was on the edge of a knife with her temper.

"Satisfied? No. Where's Logan?"

Magneto lowered his head threatening as he looked at the girl facing him.

"Our deal was for you to see Cyclops, not Wolverine. Don't worry; you'll see him soon enough."

"You'd better not hurt them, tin-head."

"Oh, don't worry. I keep my word."

Without another word, the duo departed, closing the door and leaving Scott once more in his dark prison, more baffled than ever.

* * *

><p>Thinking that he had heard voices on the other side of the wall of his impenetrable cell, Wolverine halted his pacing and put his ear against the block.<p>

"I want to see him _now_," a distinctly angry female voice growled in a rather Wolverine-ish fashion.

"Oh, but you'll spoil all the fun. Besides, we agreed for you to see Cyclops. You saw him; now, we are going back to my office to continue conferring over those lovely files. I want to know _everything_ that happened during and after your little adventure with Stryker," the haughty, droning voice of Magneto replied. "I would hate to have to get violent about this."

The cocking of guns quickly followed. Being her generally casual self, Renee scoffed and apparently walked away with her escort as her voice got fainter from the distance.

"I am going to bed. I'm still getting over being brought here by flying uncontrollably in mid-air. Keep in mind from now on that I have a certain dislike for heights!"

Angry that one of the people he cared about the most was in harm's way and he couldn't reach her, Logan loudly barked,

"Magneto, if you even touch one hair on her head, I swear I'll hunt you to the ends of the earth!"

The only thing he heard in response was the evil man's sadistic chuckle.

* * *

><p>Victor snarled in frustration as he looked at the tin box that held Renee after he had heard of her capture from an associate of his. This cat and mouse game was supposed to be his own pet. Magneto had been an unexpected and unwanted player. Now, the doctor was out of Sabretooth's court and into that of his former boss. A plot was already forming in his mind as to how he could 'rescue' Dr. Bradford and continue his scheme.<p>

* * *

><p>Having been finally escorted out of his cell by six mismatched guards hours and hours after being dropped into his metal box, Logan looked around at the undefined metal hallway that seemed only to be disturbed by the occasional air vent or door. Finally, his guides stopped at one of the entrances, sent him through, and closed the door behind him.<p>

The room appeared to be a fully furnished office with a great mahogany desk on one side with a large portrait of some obscure historical personage behind it, while the bulk of the room held a similar air of grandeur, being decorated by numerous artworks depicting holocausts and great battles; on the opposite side of the room was the only thing that seemed completely out of place from the rest of the décor: a giant, shiny metal box reaching from the floor to the ceiling and being about ten feet across on all sides.

Just as Logan had walked over to the suspicious article and began getting a closer look, another door opened, across from the one he had entered through, and in came Magneto, wearing a comfortable grey suit with his traditional headgear.

"Afraid I might try giving you a concussion?" the captive mocked before getting serious. "What do you want with Bradford?"

The other mutant shook his head, moving to sit at his desk.

"My dear Wolverine, in the past, you always assumed that my plots were centered around _you_; now that it actually is, you assume otherwise."

"Then why kidnap Renee?"

"Because she is part of my grand design in seeking revenge for your part in ruining my campaign against the humans."

The man stared, unimpressed. Renee had nothing to do with him or that venture.

"Okay, you got me; now, you can let the others go on their merry way."

"You really don't know, do you? I suppose having an adamantium bullet shot into your brain can have certain lasting effects, particularly if you never remembered certain details of your childhood in the first place. Honestly, I had already planned to get ahold of you, but, in my investigation, I discovered that your wonderful doctor was also in search of some answers. It turns out that she can't remember most of her childhood before the age of five. She only ran into you in Stryker's project because he had found something significant to trade: information. Consider it hitting several birds with one stone."

To Wolverine's befuddlement, Magneto opened a file on his desk and slid it over to him.

'Victor Creed'… The name and information following only confused him further.

Then, he was handed another, black folder that had his own picture in it.

'James Howlett'… Then and there, Logan discovered his traumatic past of being 'suspected' of killing his father, running away with his half-brother, Victor, and fighting in several significant wars before landing himself in the mess of Stryker's project. Memories, while scattered and far too few, made a short and quick procession through his mind in a jumbled mess of battles and conflict.

Finally, a file was slipped on top of the other two with Renee pictured…well, it was actually two files together, one being a recent copy and the other apparently from the 1970's.

'…Name: Howlett, Renee…'

"I'm sure this answers quite a few questions…including why Renee was probably rather…distracted recently," the tyrant commented, pressing a button at his desk that raised the cover of the metal box, revealing a sort cage, with the missing doctor lounging on the cot against the wall.

Apparently noticing that Logan wasn't exactly in the position to break her out, she leaned against the bars, saying,

"Ingenious rescue, Wolverine. I'm hoping that this was part of your plan…as was getting yourself and everyone else captured?"

"Nice family reunion, isn't it? Now all we're missing is your half-brother." Suddenly, the distinct sounds of fighting could be heard outside. "I believe that is him right now."

True, when the door opened, Victor Creed was the first to enter the room, carrying two of the guards' semi-automatics, but he was followed by none other than Storm, Cyclops, and Iceman. Apparently Magneto hadn't counted on Sabretooth teaming up with his former adversaries to accomplish his goals.

"Don't move, metal-head," the newcomer threatened, "or my new friend just might blast you to kingdom come."

Taking the unexpected queue, Logan easily sliced opened the cage door, which was clearly not made of the same material as his former cell, and released Renee, who watched Sabretooth warily.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"A simple 'thank you' would suffice. But, enough about me. Don't you think we should work on getting out of here, darkie?"

Despite the tensions between the three relatives, the X-Men and their unwanted aid raced out of the office and towards the exit, the latter giving Magneto a nasty knock on the head before making his escape. Soon, however, they had pursuers tailing them, gaining ground every second and firing at the runners with their assorted guns. Thinking alike, the group split upon reaching a parting-of-the-ways, Storm, Scott, and Bobby going left and Wolverine, Renee, and Victor going right.

Logan's group tore through the halls with six of the guards right behind and eventually emerged through a pair of heavy doors back out into the open air, racing for the tree line. After a good ten minutes of running, it seemed as though they had lost their followers and they finally risked stopping, the two men breathing slightly heavier than normal and Renee shamelessly leaning against a tree, trying to catch her breath.

"All right," she gasped, "maybe I do need to cut back on the walks and start running with you more often, Logan. It's not that I'm utterly out of shape…but, boy, when it comes to this sort of thing…"

She was interrupted as Wolverine quickly approached his former opponent and gave him an all-out punch.

"Who are you? Why do you keep showing up? And why did you help us?"

"Logan, stop!" the woman protested, forgetting her exhaustion and roughly pushing the two males apart before they _tore_ each other apart. "Both of you! Just because you're mutants with some rather animalistic abilities and attitudes doesn't mean that you have to act like it every time something doesn't go your way."

"He tried to kill you!" Wolverine snarled.

"He also saved us."

"He's also your brother," Victor interrupted, smiling in his usual creepy feline way.

"Please don't bring that up."

"Unbelievable," Logan grumbled, tossing the girl the three files he had managed to keep during their escape. "Why didn't you tell me that your maiden name was Howlett?"

"You didn't ask, it wasn't your business, and it wouldn't have mattered anyway since you lost your memory. All that time and you were right in front of me! I knew that I had two brothers who had run away when I was five, but…I had no idea. All that chaos…for nothing! You know, this all could have been resolved so quickly if we had actually been honest back in the Weapon X program."

With Renee no longer keeping them from each other's throats, Victor provoked further violence by saying,

"You and I have unfinished business, James. I've saved your sorry hide before, just like now, but it's only so I can kill you myself. Now, let me remind you of a few things you may have forgotten."

Just before reacting to Sabretooth's charge, Logan couldn't help but look sympathetically at the doctor, who was sitting down in confusion and anger, her hand back to rubbing her shoulder with the scars. Had he been responsible for that?


	6. Twilight

Thanks xmen4life for your review!

Twilight

Even though the two mutants sounded like they were tearing the forest apart in the heat of their multitasking dual and conversation, Renee could only sit and try to fathom the reality of her search being over. Unfortunately, the reunion was nothing like she had imagined. After her husband's death and after she had managed to settle down in relative comfort, it had become her main objective: finding the two brothers she had heard her mother speak of so often during her childhood, though the talk had been often mingled with curses that would be scornful for any human being to use. But all the pain she had endured during these adventures with Stryker and the X-Men was for nothing. Her brothers, James Howlett and Victor Creed, had been there all along, involved with Stryker and the X-Men.

"All of this was for nothing. Nothing else mattered and it was all for naught in the end," she muttered, not noticing the close proximity of the rest of the rescue team until Scott helped her stand, refusing to meet her gaze, having apparently heard her.

"What is all this about?" Storm demanded, motioning to the several mutilated trees left by the fight.

"Family quarrel." Dr. Bradford was met by three shocked faces. "Turns out that I have two brothers that haven't gotten along for years."

"Uh…don't you think we should stop them?" Bobby suggested.

"No, this is something that I think only I can do," the physician argued, grabbing one of the semiautomatics dropped by her half-brother, shedding her white lab coat, and stalking off after the sounds of the vicious conflict.

"What is it that you could possibly do that we couldn't?"

"Renee!" Scott called after her, but even his amazingly calming voice didn't stop her.

Luckily, the uninvolved X-Men respectfully didn't follow the woman, though they obviously wanted to. It was only after about fifteen minutes of walking through the dense forest that the sounds she was looking for finally seemed close by.

_Five-year-old Renee Howlett wandered contentedly through the woods. Despite it being after dark and tensions being high between Mr. Howlett and his former groundskeeper, Mr. Logan, the little girl somehow found a certain thrill and peace in sneaking out in the middle of the night when she was supposed to be in bed. Something new and strange this evening, however, was that, when she neared the outer gate of the Howlett land, she discovered a tall, handsome man at the entrance, heavily armed and just…standing there._

"_Daddy?" she questioned, recognizing Thomas Logan and unlocking the gate so that he could kneel down and kiss her on the forehead, like he always did when no one else was around. _

_Neither of them knew how, but, a year previously, Renee had suddenly been able to just look at him, almost seeing inside his soul, and know that he was her real father, not Mr. Howlett, the terrible stiff who had raised her and her eight-year-old brother, James. Thomas called it her 'little gift' and it actually quite comforted her to know that her real father cared about her so much more than Howlett, who never wanted a girl in the first place. True, she had heard rumors about him being an abusive drunkard, especially in regards to Victor, her half-brother (a dear boy, though he quite frightened Renee with his violent tendencies), but the recently-fired groundskeeper always treated her with utmost kindness._

"_How's my little angel?" he asked, smiling down at her, though something obviously troubled him. (He always called her 'little angel' when something was wrong.) _

"_James is sick. Do you think he might get a gift like me and Victor?"_

_Thomas' eyes darkened at the mentioning of his older son._

"_I don't know, darling, but probably. Now, do you know if Mr. Howlett is in the house?"_

"_Yes…you aren't going to do anything bad, are you, Daddy?"_

"_Don't you worry about it, angel. Now go enjoy your walk. Daddy needs to talk to Mr. Howlett and he might say some nasty things that you don't want to hear."_

_Still sensing the worry and anger from her father, Renee softly put her hand on his cheek before giving him a fierce hug. The past year of knowing her true heritage, though she was too young to be absolutely comprehensive about the whole situation, had somehow given the girl a feeling of belonging to something. Around the powerful landowner, she had never felt really cared for or cherished, but she and Thomas had possessed a special understanding ever since she had been playing in the garden one day, sensed their connection, and outright called him 'Daddy'. She didn't know why he was so rough around the edges with everyone else and respectfully kind with her, but she knew that he would never do anything to hurt her._

"_I love you, Daddy."_

"_I love you too, darling. Now, go…and don't come back to the house for a little while, no matter what you hear."_

_Renee nodded and watched with her big blue eyes wide with fright as Thomas Logan continued along the path and disappeared, but she didn't continue her walk like he had told her to. Instead, she quickly locked the gate and ran as quietly as she could toward the house before the guard doing his rounds at the fence could see her. _

_Most of the house was dark, just as it would normally be with everyone going to bed, but a frightful yelling was coming from the parlor. The door was open, so, when the child, now uncertain in her curiosity, went up the stairs towards the door, she had a perfect view of her beloved father shooting Mr. Howlett at pointblank range. She could only stare in stunned terror as the strict man who had raised her collapsed onto the floor. She didn't know how exactly (for she was too young to be utterly knowledgeable about these things), but she could tell by just looking at the prone figure that death was imminent._

_Shocked on his own part, James, who had raced downstairs from his room upon hearing the gunshot, suddenly emerged with his own 'gift', as Thomas had called them: three sharp, claw-like bones came from each hand. Under normal circumstances, Renee would have been able to give her sibling a hug and tell him that, as strange as these things seemed, they were actually quite exciting once you got used to them. Of course, James, having just seen the man he had always known as his father be killed at the hands of seemingly a disgruntled employee, was in no position to be congratulated or encouraged…he was angry, scared, and vengeful._

_So, the first use of his amazing claws was to run at the 'little angel's' dear father and stab him in the stomach. Tears running down her face, the girl bolted towards the duo, screaming at the top of her lungs and beating at her brother. The boy, still caught up in his moment of revenge, lunged out at her with one of his arms to get her away, not realizing that his claws were still out. As a result, the bone daggers slashed through her sister's shoulder, making her screams of pain even louder than before. _

_In order to make her be quiet, Victor roughly shoved her towards the banister, hitting her head and stopping the screeching. As she floated on the edge of consciousness, she vaguely heard Thomas tell James of their family relation before Victor started pushing the younger boy toward the door._

"_What about Renee?" he objected._

"_Forget her. They're coming!" the half-brother snapped._

_The last thing she saw was her traumatized mother hovering over her._

She had awakened after that night with a sore, bandaged shoulder and much of her memory gone. The doctors had said that it might return within a day or even not at all. Normally, for a human being, it wouldn't have really mattered, since many memories from days that long ago are usually forgotten, but, for Renee, it stole much of her identity. She grew up struggling to be 'normal', fighting loneliness, anger, confusion, and frustration…emotions that she felt so frequently but couldn't put a place to.

She had nightmares about ferocious creatures attacking her, only to turn around and find two little boys throwing sticks or stones. During her daily life, if she saw two brothers walking down the same side of the street as her, she would cross to the other side as she could almost see claws coming out of their hands. Slowly, but surely, she had put a few pieces together, begging her mother for answers on her deathbed and using her power to scan her blood for any clues for her to find her remaining family. It had driven her to joining Stryker's project when he offered to help her finds answers.

At last, the woman arrived at the present site of conflict, her jaw set in fury as the two men slashed at each other on the ground, tearing up the forest in their wake. The younger man was clearly taking a beating, regardless of his superior healing abilities.

"Would you stop acting like children and stop _fighting_?" she yelled, suddenly feeling rather uncertain about the gun in her hand.

Unfortunately, Wolverine was the only one momentarily distracted by the furious doctor's plea, costing him a deep gash or two from Sabretooth's clawing nails, momentarily disabling him and allowing Victor to notice their sister's presence.

"What are you doing here?" he sneered, causing Renee to roll her eyes in disgust.

"Only the obvious…walk away now, Victor, and never come around us again."

"Or what?" he shot back, cruelly banging Logan's head against a tree before he could fully recover.

"I'll shoot you."

"You can't kill me. You're too weak."

"I'm merciful. You're the weak one. You ran away and left me behind so that you wouldn't get caught. You always run away when things get too dangerous. When you attacked me and James showed up, you ran when the tides started turning. You can save yourself now by walking away; otherwise, you leave me no choice."

Smiling insanely, Victor Creed slashed his brother one more time before wordlessly charging her. It wasn't as if she had a choice. He was attacking and she reacted, pulling the trigger and releasing every single bullet inside into Sabretooth's chest. She wasn't a killer, but she wished with all of her being that he would just die. When the clip finally emptied, the crazed mutant was on his knees, no longer trying to attack.

"Why didn't you use your power to just kill me?" he muttered.

In order to avoid seeing the bloodshed she had caused already, Dr. Bradford looked down at her temporarily incapacitated middle sibling, noting that his injuries would take another minute or two to heal...maybe longer even. When she eventually replied, feeling Victor's life slipping away, her voice was at a low growl.

"Even a creature like you doesn't deserve to be slaughtered like an animal. With a gun, everyone knows how you were killed, but with mine…feeling each cell in your body and basically causing it to implode…it's inhumane. It makes this gun look like a child's plaything."

"Your power is the only thing that makes you what you are. Without it, you're _nothing_."

His voice was getting quieter, though the spite remained.

"You know that's not true."

"Why make that choice now? Why did they find your husband blown apart rather than shot?"

Anger bubbled up and one of her hands left the useless gun.

"Why test me?"

"It's better to die by the makings of a mutant than the machine of a man."

"Magneto poisoned your mind more than you thought, Victor."

"Don't do it, Renee," Magneto interrupted. The woman turned to look at the new offender when she felt a pain in her back, but Erik was standing a good ten feet away with no weapon as far as she could tell. "A traitor like Victor Creed does not deserve to be killed by his own kind." Reaching around to where she had felt the puncture and retrieving the projectile, she discovered that it was a dart. "I should have done that before you escaped, but I didn't want to waste the few doses that I managed to salvage before they locked them away."

"Doses?"

Before Magneto could answer or react to anything in any fashion, Wolverine, now recovered enough to stand, attacked and instantly killed their former and present enemy.

"Are you okay?" he asked, not seeing the dart as Renee hid it in her pant pocket. She flinched slightly at the strange, numbing, and somewhat painful sensation flooding every fiber of her body.

"I'm fine. I just am…a little worn out. Are you all right?"

"Yeah; we should go find the others."

But Logan wasn't quite 'all right' either. His wounds hadn't yet completely healed and a momentarily significant leg wound forced him to slightly use his companion as a crutch.

Sabretooth's taunting had brought back more memories – memories that were even more terrible and haunting than of when she had received the scars on her shoulder. What made it so terrible was that it had been her fault and the reason for her long-time desperation to keep her anger under control.

"_Lewis, there's something I want to tell you," thirty-five-year-old Renee Bradford began, setting down her new Brownie camera as her husband rowed back to shore, straightening his uniform as he stepped onto solid ground._

"_Why did you insist on taking that bloody picture?" the handsome man gruffly asked with a hint of an Irish accent, though his eyes shone with kindness._

"_I told you I've always wanted a picture of you on the lake. Now I have it. No matter what happens or where the army takes you, I'll always have this picture with me."_

"_Promise?"_

"_Always."_

"_Now," Lewis continued, tying up the boat and walking down the dock with an arm protectively around the woman's shoulders, "what is it you wanted to tell me?"_

_Stopping, Renee took his hands in hers and smiled nervously._

"_Lewis, darling…you're going to be a father."_

"_Really?" _

_With more excitement than he had shown almost since their wedding day, the officer shouted in delight, picked his wife up bride style, and swung her around._

Lewis Bradford had been a British army man in Canada, his parents having met on the boat from Ireland; he and Renee fell in love soon after the girl graduated from nursing school.

Terrifyingly, the couple had a terrible argument only two weeks after she announced her pregnancy. In her anger, her most destructive ability emerged; she ended up accidentally killing her beloved husband and consequently lost the baby due to the trauma. It took her decades to recover from it. No one could explain how Lewis had just exploded, though some considered new bombing techniques and others assumed that his wife had murdered him. She was eventually driven out by the suspicions and, once things calmed down for her, she went back to school and became a doctor. It still didn't stop the painful reminders, though.

"Renee, you sure you're okay?" Logan inquired, noticing the troubled look on his sister's face.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

* * *

><p>Awakened by the ever-increasing nightmares on the second night following their return from Magneto's house of horrors, Logan, a.k.a. James Howlett, staggered down the stairs in sweatpants and undershirt, bent on reaching the kitchen. Though it was pitch black, he managed to get to the center of food and beer, only to find quite a surprise when he turned on the light: sitting on the other side of the island counter was Dr. Bradford slouched over a cup of steaming green tea in baggy black-and-white polka dot pajamas. Her hair was in a collapsing braid, with multiple strands of hair drooping in her face.<p>

"Breaking habit and spending the night here instead of on your desk, I see," he commented.

"Amazing the concept of 'great minds thing alike'."

The man chuckled drowsily in response.

"You're mind may be great, but I don't know about mine."

"Sit down, have a drink, and shut up, you old fool."

Snagging a beer, he obeyed his sister's command, though he grunted slightly at how awkward the situation seemed, however casual the girl was acting. It was strange, disconcerting, and just plain_ weird_ to think that the woman he had started to…like a little more than he would with a friend…was actually his sister! Unfortunately, it all made sense. Both of them didn't remember at least enough of their past to recall their relationship and both of them were finally beginning to 'see the light', as it were. And to think how similarly had been acting…

"Logan," Renee repeated (he realized), pursing her lips as she stared at him from across the table.

"What?"

"That," she stated, studying his face. "You look…contemplative. It doesn't suit you, Wolverine."

"Why do you still call me 'Logan'?"

The question didn't seem to faze the doctor much, but it was something that had puzzled the mutant practically since they got through the mansion door. While most of the others seemed utterly befuddled over whether to call him 'Logan' or 'James', or simply avoided the issue altogether and used his mutant title, being quite thrown off by the new revelation of his identity, Renee Bradford simply continued using his old designation.

She chuckled mildly, suddenly discovering that her tea had gone cold and moving for the microwave.

"Do you _prefer_ the other one?"

"No, I was just…curious.

"My dear brother, for one thing, I think the name 'James' just doesn't suit you one bit; for another thing, 'Logan' is, technically, your real last name, as it is (or rather _was_) mine. And here I thought _I _was having an identity crisis." Though she barked a laugh, she put an affectionate hand on his in all sincerity. "You are who you are, Logan. No name can change that. You're the same stubborn, strong, caring, temperamental man that you were when I first came here, and when we met at Stryker's project. Not calling you 'Howlett' does not make me feel any loss. The man who raised us with that name was an insensitive, heartless, stiff little…"

To keep herself from ranting, Renee merely shook her head and went silent; however, Logan had one more question that been eating at him, as always seemed to be with the lovely physician around.

"Your…our father was… He…" She smiled in understanding. "Don't you feel…slighted?"

"I was able to recall some memories while you and Victor were fighting. Our father (our real father) was moody, a drinker, and, to Victor, abusive. Sadly, you never knew him as more than a groundskeeper 'til right before he…died. I don't how he would have been if he had raised us, instead of the that heartless tyrant who, for some reason, seemed to like you so much. But…he always treated me kindly after my… power helped me recognize our connection." She somehow tripped over the word 'power'. "I was young enough to not feel any hate towards him. During the short time I knew him as my father, I had no reason to. Sure, I feel somewhat uncomfortable with the whole idea now, but I don't find it difficult to forgive him."

The man simply gave a hint of a nod and focused on his drink for the next few minutes, trying to drown out all thought…until Renee found his hand again and she spoke once more.

"Logan…I did notice how protective you were over me, along with other things. I've watched a man fall for me before." He didn't show any discomfort, though the comment caused him to take another swig of the beer. "I just don't want you to feel…uncomfortable around me. Maybe it would help that I was doing the same thing, in my own way?"

He chuckled at that.

"Ah, but you have the Boy Scout. Poof: your choice is gone."

"I suppose… Regardless, I did and do care about…then, as a potential lover, and now, as an assured brother." Abandoning her tea in the sink, Renee made one more stop by the thought-focused man before leaving. "Whatever happens or has happened, Logan, I… I couldn't imagine anyone else being a better brother than you."

* * *

><p>"Professor! Professor!" Scott yelled three mornings after their return from Magneto's base, racing into Xavier's office and finding both Charles and Logan (or James, rather) in the room, discussing class schedules. "Renee is gone."<p>

"What? Where?" Wolverine demanded.

"I don't know. I just went down to ask her if she wanted to go into town for some coffee and she wasn't there."

"For one thing, she's a tea drinker, if you don't recall; secondly, she's my sister and if you even…"

"When was the last time anyone saw her?" the Professor interrupted.

"She practiced with me in the Danger Room before dinner for an hour."

"We went on a jog at about ten last night," Cyclops seconded, earning a glare from the other man.

"So, she probably hasn't gone too far," Charles concluded. "Logan, I want you to search the grounds; Scott, I want you to look into any places nearby where she tends to spend her time – bars, shops, restaurants, a quiet bench, anything like that. I'll look for her with Cerebro."

They would only find after several hours that Renee was nowhere to be found, even with Cerebro.

* * *

><p>"Hello?"<p>

"This is Jenny from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln calling about the position for a genetics researcher. Am I speaking to Doctor, uh…Renee Logan?"

"Yes?"

"Dr. Karlik wanted me to let you know that he would be happy to welcome you to the team, especially with your background with mutants. You can start working as soon as you get settled in town."

"Tell him that I can start at any time," the woman with brownish-red, shoulder-length hair replied, using her shoulder to keep the wireless phone to her ear as she put a black-and-white picture of a handsome army man on the mantle piece in her newly-acquired little house, just outside of Lincoln, Nebraska.


	7. Guess What

Thanks LilianaKay2011 and DragonRider2000 for your reviews!

Thank goodness I already had this chapter written a week ago…otherwise, there wouldn't have been an update for…a while. Haha. Work is great for the money, but when you have other things to do (namely, school and fanfiction), it's a little inconvenient.

Guess What

"Why can't you send Storm to the University? She knows far more about this whole mutant genetics thing than I do," Scott argued. "Besides, we haven't found Renee, yet."  
>"It's been four months since she disappeared, Scott," Xavier calmly countered, holding an airplane ticket to Lincoln, Nebraska for the teacher. "I don't know how she managed to hide so well, but, wherever she is, she doesn't want to be found. I've looked at the entire mutant population of the Earth and she has simply disappeared. Anyway, you are the leader of the X-Men and it's only right for you to be the one to examine the new discoveries these geneticists are making concerning why certain mutants have certain abilities and such. It's quite fascinating. Besides, it'll get your mind off of things."<p>

"Whatever," the man groaned, snatching the tickets. "But I'm not giving up."

"I didn't ask you to."

* * *

><p>"My name is Scott Summers. I'm here to see Dr. Karlton about his research."<p>

"Yes, he's expecting you. You can go right in," the lady at the desk replied. "Sir, are you all right?"

Cyclops turned back with a slight smile and lied,

"Just jetlag."

When Scott entered the office/ laboratory, a stocky man with black hair and big brown eyes looked up from his work at the large table and reached out to shake the mutant's hand. A woman with a messy dark red ponytail was facing away from him at another counter, measuring chemicals of some sort.

"You must be the man they sent to check out our work," the male scientist noted with a clearly British accent. "I've been looking forward to meeting you. Oh, this is my partner-in-crime, Dr. Logan."

The title didn't clearly ring any bells until 'Dr. Logan' turned around upon hearing her name, removing safety glasses and earphones as she did so. Cyclops couldn't believe his eyes. She had dyed her hair and was no longer a brunette, but it was still her.

"Renee! You…you're _here_."

"Scott," she responded calmly, though the visible tension in her throat gave away her stress, "…nice observance."

"May I ask _why_ you're here and why you disappeared so suddenly?"

"Better hours. The stress was getting to me."

"Must've been one bloody heck of a job," the other doctor laughed, trying and failing to break the awkward moment. "I thought the hours couldn't be worse."

"How are you doing, Scott?"

"You _disappeared_," he emphasized. "How did you manage that? Professor X spent days in Cerebro trying to find you."

"He looked in the wrong place."

"He looked through the entire mutant population!"

"He didn't look through the human population, though, did he?"

"Why would he…?" The man suddenly realized why Xavier couldn't find her. "How?"

"Magneto stuck me with the 'cure' before he was killed. I'm not a mutant anymore, Scott. Did you expect me to stick around after all that happened? I killed my half-brother, my husband, my baby…my father's dead, my brother lost his girlfriend and his memory. I decided that it was enough. Everyone I care about…something bad always happens. I can't let anything happen to you."

"Come back with me, Renee. Stryker and Magneto are dead. There's no one left to hurt you."

Tears began forming in the strong girl's eyes as her wall of defiance began crashing down.

"There's always someone else. And I can't protect you from myself."

"What is there to protect me from? If anything, you saved me: from death and from grief. I was lost without Jean until you came along. You gave me confidence and made me feel like someone still needed me as more than just a teacher or some sort of superhero."

By that time, Dr. Karlton had slipped out in confusion, leaving the two X-Men alone.

"But you are a superhero and a teacher, as well as a gentleman beyond any other." Seemingly done with her stubborn refusals, Renee approached him and gently took his hand. "The cure, in some cases, seems to only last about six months, give or take. While I work with Dr. Karlton, I've been looking for a permanent block, on the side. I only have a couple months before my power comes back, from what I've seen, but I can already feel it rearing its head again…and I can't let it ruin my life any more."

"There are better ways of doing that. In Jean's…in Jean's case, he was able to block part of her power so that she wouldn't harm herself. Maybe he can do the same for you."

"Really?"

"Would I lie to you?"

She laughed, humor seeping back into her eyes.

"I highly doubt it."

* * *

><p>Spending two and a half hours stuck in an economy-class airplane seat, crammed between a window and an incredibly handsome mutant, and surrounded by snoring people was bad enough. Add little facts like having a good hour more to go and the subject of the torturous little journey being uncomfortable with flying, naturally hateful of idleness, and having indecipherable feelings concerning the dashing mutant in the next seat…well, Renee was surprising even herself by how casual she managed to seem, juggling two peanuts and quietly whistling the Addams Family theme.<p>

When Scott looked at her from his thousand-page book, a raised eyebrow appearing above the sunglasses, the doctor couldn't help laugh a little, still juggling the peanuts.

"I never got the hang of juggling three or more. In 1899, a clown tried getting me to do it with eggs. The result was a clown in dire need of a bath…never liked those fools anyway."

"Why did you leave all of your books in your baggage?" Cyclops asked with an 'I told you so' tone.

"I've read all those books at least a dozen times," she merely stated, dropping one of her pieces of entertainment.

"Why do you keep them if you're not going to read them?"

The woman gave him a mild glare.

"C.S. Lewis, T.S. Eliot, Lucy Maud Montgomery, H.G. Wells, G.K. Chesterton, and one or two more…all first edition, of course. I couldn't possibly get rid of those."

"You should try getting something a little more modern."

"Hey!" the girl shot back with another laugh. "I read some Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling…one book each."

"And?"

"Wands, vampires, ghosts, and flying brooms? Realistic? I think not."

Scott chuckled, closing his novel.

"We live in a world with mutants that can fly, shoot fire and ice, walk through walls, and withstand gunfire without a scratch, and you call those books unrealistic. You just wait and see. Before you know, there'll be vampires."

"Would you like to bet a drink on that?"

"Definitely…and I will win."

"Psh, vampires? Hardly."

"Anyway, onto other subjects, just to keep you from getting bored. Have you ever read any books in French or another foreign language?"

"Does the English translation of Jules Verne count? I may be old, but I, uh…well, I tackled a little Welsh, but could I go to a foreign country and ask where the bathroom is? Not so much. Languages were never my thing…just like juggling."

* * *

><p>Wolverine raced down the halls towards Xavier's office, lacking a shirt as he had run from his room instantly upon hearing from Cyclops that Renee was back, and charged through the door in a fury. He instantly recognized the woman kneeling in front of the Professor at his chair.<p>

Just as Logan reached his sister, she practically shot backwards into his waiting arms. The man instantly looked back up at Charles with terrifying ferocity.

"What did you do to her?"

"Only what she asked me to do," the man replied with his usual calmness, standing and picking up his phone to call down to the infirmary. "She'll be fine. Only…she won't be making people explode any time soon."

"What do you mean?"

"I put a mental block on that part of her power, like I did with Jean."

"That blocked part took over and drove her mad."

"With Renee's power, it is far less likely that there is any danger. She'll be quite all right, I assure you."

* * *

><p>With a groan, the doctor rolled onto her side, moaning even louder when she realized that she was on a hard exam table.<p>

"Who's the idiot who put me here instead of in my own bed?" Renee muttered.

"You're back!" Scott commented a little too loudly, causing her to hold her head in pain.

"Where do you think I was?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Like the worst hangover I ever had. I feel like there's a nail in my head."

"Professor X said that he was able to put up the block."

"Yippee," came the rather unenthusiastic reply as she finally risked opening her eyes to find Cyclops hovering next to the table. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Only about ten minutes. I almost had Logan at my throat when I told him to get some rest."

"How long have I been out?"

Scott looked at his watch.

"About…oh, twenty-two hours and thirty-four minutes."

"Funny."

The man smirked in a way that just made Renee want to laugh, despite her terrible headache. That was when Wolverine suddenly came through the door, seeming to be not in the best of moods at all.

"I thought I told you to get some rest."

James rolled his eyes before seeing his awakened sister and stopping in his tracks.

"I just woke up, oh king of worriers, so you didn't miss anything," the girl teased, only losing her slight grin as Scott queried,

"I do have one question…why did you change your name to 'Logan' when you went to Nebraska?"

Not really fazed by the question, the doctor locked eyes with her last living relative.

"Because Wolverine is my brother and 'Logan' was my father's last name."

* * *

><p>A year had passed. Mutants and humans seemed to finally be living in peace together, though the X-Men always kept their eyes open for another Magneto and helped out with some of the occasional incidents. The School for Gifted Youngsters had flourished and was actually forced to expand through the building of a dormitory and two other halls besides the mansion (the dorm was instantly named after Jean Grey); ten more mutant teachers, both part-time and full-time, had been hired, giving the original tutors a little more time to focus on their particular subjects, though Dr. MacTaggert had left to work with Dr. Karlton soon after Renee's return.<p>

The now-graduated Bobby, also known as Iceman, and his girlfriend Rogue had both started college at a nearby university, majoring in chemistry and art, respectively; according to the Professor, Bobby was planning on proposing as soon as they graduated. There were general suspicions among the teachers about Charles and Storm actually forming a relationship beyond that of friendship, but neither of them were inclined to confirm or deny such whisperings.

Scott and Renee had become incredibly close, going out for coffee, dinner, and jogs at least a few times a week (Scott was finally able to talk about Jean without pausing or changing the subject and Renee freely spoke of her past without cringing at the thought). Wolverine continued being his usual loner self, having spent nearly half of the year digging for further knowledge about his lost memories, the events leading up to him becoming 'metal-man', and his forgotten love, Kayla Silverfox.

Coming out of her Biology class and saying goodbye to all of her students for the day, Renee Logan happily greeted another teacher, Kurt Wagner, also known as Nightcrawler, as he approached from his own classroom. After Kurt had returned to the school after spending some time in his homeland, Germany, he and the house physician had struck up quite the friendship, talking for hours about culture, religion, and the misunderstandings between the humans and mutants.

"Doctor," he began, "would you like to practice with me in the Danger Room this evening?"

Clearing her dry throat from talking about the nervous system for an hour, Dr. Logan quickly arranged to bring Cyclops, Storm, and her brother to train that night before parting ways with the kindly mutant. Walking down the hall, she proceeded to the house kitchen, which was now only used by the teachers and older students since most of the youngsters used the kitchen in the new dormitory nearby. Just as the tea started to boil, Scott walked in, saying,

"I thought I'd find you here."

"Well, since getting a cup of Earl Grey between my last class and evening appointments and paperwork has become a bit of a habit, you made a pretty good guess," she laughed, bobbing the teabag up and down in the steaming mug on the island counter. "I told Kurt that we would meet him to practice in the Danger Room tonight at eight." Without a word, Scott leaned on the counter across from the woman, staring at her through those dark sunglasses, something that had recently started to unnerve her. "What is it?"

"I have a proposal."

Renee raised an eyebrow at the last word, not even fathoming the possibility of him being literal.

"Is that so?"

"Well, things have calmed down around here, and you and I have been taking our relationship nice and slow."

"Very nice indeed," she cryptically responded, stirring some honey into the tea. "I've been enjoying the peace lately…something I haven't had in a long time."

There was a slight pause until the man spoke again.

"What do you think about taking it to the next level?"

"Meaning…you weren't kidding when you said 'proposal'?"

"That would be an accurate assumption," he said, suddenly grinning.

Barely containing an overjoyed smile, Renee leaned forward and gently kissed him on the lips. Of course, James walked in right after that, quizzically glancing at his sister, who was just taking a sip of her hot drink as she sat on the available stool and blushing madly (something rather uncharacteristic). Logan, as everyone still called him, had been incredibly protective over the M.D. all the while as her and Scott's relationship bloomed. Despite his developed friendship with Cyclops, he hadn't exactly been supportive when it came to someone dating his newly-found sibling.

"Did I miss something?" the new arrival queried, snagging a beer from one of the upper cabinets.

"Umm," Renee began, "Logan, I want to tell you before anyone else…"

Scott wisely left before she could get to the punch line. While James could hold a pointless grudge like no other, he had a talent for eventually getting over the most difficult of things…mostly.


	8. Runaway Bride

So, when Summer starts rolling around, you're supposed to have more time to do things you enjoy doing, right? Not so much… For anyone reading this whose story I'm following as well, I am terribly sorry for slacking in my reviewing. I think I have about twenty unread new chapters in my inbox, going back about three months. :P Anyway, I may completely fail in that regard, but eight and a half hours of absolutely crazy work does not really give me any reason to NOT update this already-written chapter. :) Enjoy!

Runaway Bride

True, Logan had been accepting about the sudden engagement, but he definitely wasn't thoroughly happy about it, often half-jokingly accusing Scott of stealing away his sister in revenge for Wolverine killing his old girlfriend. Obviously, he was somewhat bitter about the whole situation. On the other hand, Scott and Renee were happier than either had been in a _very_ long time. The girl no longer preferred being constantly alone, instead spending half of her time running with and getting to know her brother and the other half spending time with her fiancé. Now, the wedding was only two weeks away. Needless to say, the mansion was bubbling with excitement.

Luckily, despite their many differences, the molecule-controlling mutant and her laser-eyed future dearly beloved both agreed that they wanted a small wedding in a nearby historic church, the bulk of their guests consisting of the School's students. The bride's gown, the designing of which Storm had been greatly involved in, was a strapless, floor-length, off-white dress of a fine, wool-like material with a slight train. To match both creators' tastes, the dress itself included not one bit of lace or anything extremely frilly, instead containing spiraling seams all along its length, starting about an inch apart at the bodice and naturally widening down to the bottom of the not-overly-fluffy skirt. Ororo confidently claimed that it matched the woman's refined simplicity.

On that particular day, the two engaged persons were in the infirmary, the man half-sitting on an exam table, watching his nearby fiancé meddle with some sort of pen-shaped metal gizmo that she had been cooking up for the past three months. This project of hers was the reason they hadn't gotten married months previously. Since Renee's back was facing him, Cyclops couldn't really see what she was doing; however, he was definitely curious.

"So, what is your little pocket light supposed to do?"

She breathed a laugh, still facing the opposite direction as she replied,

"I happen to know that, however wonderful your power is, you have always wanted to somehow make it so that you didn't always have to wear those sunglasses or the visor. This trinket, my beloved, is not the solver of this problem. These, however…" With that, she turned, revealing a plastic tray with two clear contacts on it. "…are. The 'pen' you saw was merely the tool to make these. I managed to use my ability and combine it with a little technology. Now, just let me take these glasses off…"

Instantly, Scott grabbed her hand to keep her from removing his signature piece.

"What if it doesn't work? I would never forgive myself for hurting you."

"I think my abilities are pretty reliable after a century and a half," she laughed. "Close your eyes; doctor's orders." The man didn't have any choice but to comply as the physician snatched off his glasses, causing him to tightly close his eyes. After a few moments, he heard her calm, quiet voice. "Open your eyes."

He shook his head.

"No."

"Scott, I'm not going to tell you again. Open your eyes."

Hesitantly, he did open his eyes, flinching when the red laser shot forward. He was surprised, though, by the clear, foot-wide shield-like object in the woman's hand that seemed to absorb the energy. With a perfectly serious expression, she grabbed something beside her and moved her hand towards his eyes.

He flinched again when something came in contact with his eyes.

"Open your eyes, Scott."

For the first time in years (not including the short moment just before the Phoenix killed him), Scott Summers saw the world with his real eyes, rather than through a fuzzy visor or shaded glasses…and the first thing he saw was the woman he loved.

* * *

><p>Kurt Wagner, known in the mutant realm as Nightcrawler, was sitting on a bench near the main staircase quite close to the front door for his grading. As far as he knew, most of the students were on a fieldtrip with Storm and the Professor, leaving Cyclops and Renee, who had somehow earned the codename 'Ion' for her lovely talents, down in the infirmary messing around with the doctor's 'surprise', Wolverine likely practicing in the Danger Room, and Kurt enjoying a few moments of peace.<p>

He and the doctor had become particularly close friends and had even started attending Mass together at a local church. They often joked that, while Scott was seriously considering coming along, Wolverine was still a work in progress.

The mutant continued staring at his paperwork even as Logan came down the staircase, probably heading for the kitchen, as usual; however, before the stalking man could get far, the ring of the doorbell resounded throughout the hall. Wolverine pointedly looked over his shoulder, expecting the blue-skinned Catholic to answer it, but Kurt refused to even look up. So, Logan reluctantly went himself.

Even Nightcrawler was surprised by the sight in the doorway: a petite woman with wavy blonde hair, just reaching Wolverine's shoulder, misty green eyes, and slightly crooked teeth that seemed to help rather than hinder her sunny smile. She was perhaps in her early thirties, wearing brown capris and a frilly white, three-quarter-length shirt, and carrying a comparatively large black suitcase with surprising ease.

"Hello," she stated with a Southern-accented and soft, but not overly girlish, voice. "It took you long enough. I was about to break the door down myself. The name's Doctor Victoria Carteloo. And you are…?"

Wolverine visibly shook himself and Kurt couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Uh, Logan. Doctor, huh? In case you didn't know, we already have a doc of our own."

Victoria snorted rather like a horse to show that she was perturbed.

"FYI: I'm a veterinarian. I spend most of my time with horses, dogs, and cats; I can't stand people. Speaking of which, I have a bride to attend to. Where the bloody he…_heck_ is Renee?"

Logan chuckled, finally stepping aside to let the new arrival in the house.

"She got to you too, did she? Renee's in the infirmary with one-eye."

"So, you must be the infamous brother she's been telling me about over the phone," Victoria commented, putting a hand on her hip and grinning crookedly. "She said you were a hunk, but I didn't believe it until now."

Smiling humorously, the man amazingly abandoned his mission for food and escorted the stranger in the opposite direction.

* * *

><p>"Oh, my…" Renee gasped, setting down the makeshift shield and putting her hand on her fiancé's cheek. He had the most stunning gray-blue eyes she had ever seen. "I can't believe it actually worked!"<p>

Despite obvious excitement of his own, Scott only smiled mildly.

"You had doubts?"

"Of course I had doubts! But I wasn't going to share them and cause unnecessary worry."

Shaking his head, Cyclops stood up and pulled the woman closer.

"But I could have killed you."

Putting her hands on his chest with a sigh, the doctor stared into his beautiful eyes.

"Scott, I know what it's like to know that you might kill someone unintentionally at any moment. I wasn't going to do that to you." With that, Scott gave up arguing and simply gave in to kissing his wife-to-be. A moment later, however, they were interrupted by the entrance of two individuals, one of which caused Renee to leap out of the mutant's arms for a hug. "Vickie!"

"So, you did miss me," the blonde commented laughingly, dropping her bag before eyeballing Scott. "How many good-lookin' fellas do you have hidden away here, anyway?"

"I happen to have a claim on that one, my friend; however," she continued, pointedly looking at Wolverine, "_he_ is perfectly single."

"Is that so?"

The physician couldn't help but laugh at her friend's endless boy-craziness, though she didn't have a frivolous bone in her body aside from that. She giggled even harder when Logan protested,

"I am _happily _single, for your information."

"Oh, please. Before you found out that I was your sister, you were chasing after me like there was no tomorrow."

"Not true!"

"Sure it isn't…"

* * *

><p>"Sakes alive! Renee, you look beautiful! Absolutely beautiful!"<p>

Renee, with her elegant dress, gorgeous dark red tresses in a lovely up-do, and flowing veil, blushed fiercely at the compliment as she stood in front of the full-length mirror in a back room of the little stone church within walking distance of Xavier's School. Her Maid-of-Honor was in a deep green shin-length spaghetti-strap dress with her hair nicely curled and pulled back.

"You're just saying that so I don't feel so self-conscious."

"Psh. That is _so_ not true, Doc," Victoria shot back, heading for the nearby bathroom. "Hey, I'm gonna put some gloss and mascara on. Do you think you can survive without me for a minute without having a breakdown, Miss Cool-and-Collected?"

"Sure," the brunette chirped with a shaky breath, causing Vickie to be somewhat hesitant in leaving the girl alone. This was the first time since they had met in Colorado that she had ever seen Renee so…out of control.

"So, Scott seems to be a really nice guy…one-of-a-kind. How did the two of you end up together, anyway? You told me about how you sort of saved each other in the '70's or whatever, but I still don't get how it went from you helping out some kid among many to marrying him; so, if you could help out…"

Vickie cut off in the middle of putting on her emerald teardrop earrings as she exited the bathroom to find Renee gone and her veil sitting on a nearby chair. Snatching the train of fabric, the woman raced out of the room as fast as she could manage with her low black heels, cursing to herself for not wearing boots just to spite the fancy occasion.

Avoiding all possible contact with the wedding guests or anyone even related to the wedding, she slipped out of the building, out onto the nearby field, and stopped just outside the treeline.

"Yoo-hoo!" she called after looking around for anyone watching. "I know you're there. Come out."

Smiling to herself and whistling Glinda the Good Witch of the North's solo "Come out, Come out" from the Wizard of Oz, Victoria suddenly spotted a trail of broken underbrush going into the miniature woods towards the mutant mansion. She followed it for about five minutes or so before reemerging into a clearing where the giant house stood; then, after listening for a minute, the girl ran inside.

You would think that a place so official would have people with the brains to lock the front door when it was emptied out…but apparently not.

First, she yelled for Renee, but, when that didn't pan out, the blonde searched the infirmary, where she found missing clothes and other articles gone, and finally the back entrance. Sure enough, there was a figure in a big white gown on the right side of the garden. Apparently, whoever forgot to lock the front wasn't so careless about the back gate.

"Renee, if you were going for subtlety," the new arrival began, now within speaking distance of her friend, "you really blew it. Seriously! A white dress in a garden? Not the best camouflage, Doc."

Realizing that the gate was immovably sealed, the bride gave it one last shove before desperately leaning against it, hyperventilating.

"I can…I can't…I can't do this, Vickie! I just can't!"

"Can't what? Can't go through with the wedding? Can't live with yourself to marry another man after Louis? Can't stand to see another man you love die? Psh. Please! Get _over_ your self-pity and get a life! I watched you suffer for years after we met and these past two weeks have been a first when it comes to actually seeing you really happy. Don't ruin your life just because of a little guilt. Someone as old as you should know better."

"It's not that," Renee gasped, finally getting control of her breathing. "It's built up over months. I…I…I'm settling! I can't believe I'm settling. I've lived two lifetimes and I'm _settling_!"

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second!" Vickie exclaimed, sending a quick text before re-pocketing her phone in her snatched sweater. "You are _so_ not settling, my friend. Have you even met Scott Summers? He's like the best, most decent, most upright guy I have ever seen! You couldn't find a better feller if you searched a _million_ years instead of less than a couple o' centuries."

"Yes, I am. I _am_ settling! Before Scott came along and before I found out that Logan was my brother, I was actually falling for…for my _brother_! After I discovered the truth of my family, I… It wasn't until then that I really _felt_ something for Scott. I feel like I'm short-changing everyone. I can't get married to a man that was a second choice. What if I'm doing it just because I feel that I have to? I don't know what to think, Vickie!"

_Come out, come out, wherever you are… And meet the old lady who needs a reality check…_

The veterinarian just nodded, reaching back into her pocket again for her handy lock pick and tossing it over. She could only laugh and shrug at the quizzical look she got.

"It only took so many times of locking myself out of my house before I finally started improvising. I understand. You're scared of hurting Scott, yourself, and everyone else." _Come out, come out…_ "What you don't realize is that you're going to hurt everyone _more_ by going and running off…again. How many times are you going to uproot yourself and expect to just settle right back into a new life?"

"I can't stay! If I leave now, you can all go back to your lives like I was never here."

_Now would be a good time!_

"One problem with your genius plan: none of us can go back to our lives like you were never in them. You affected us all, Renee. Remember that time I was treating a sick mare: the one that went wild and I couldn't control? If not for you backing her off, I would have been trampled to death. Remember what you told me about Stryker's? If not for you, Weapon X would have killed countless people, including Scott. Remember telling me about Magneto? How many lives did he ruin? If you hadn't been his bait target, what kind of a rescue would there have been? How would it have played out? How many more lives would he have ruined?"

"Okay, enough!" the girl shouted, throwing the gate open and rushing for the treeline…until Vickie called,

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you." In that instant, a dozen wolves and three bears emerged from the woods, halting the doctor's run. "With me in control, they're perfectly sweet…but I wouldn't test that, if I were you."

"Are you threatening me, Victoria?"

"No, I'm wanting to remind you that you're not alone here. Anywhere else, you are going to be _alone_. However often you may enjoy your peace and quiet, I know for a fact that you hate being truly alone. Wolverine loves you more than any other brother could; I love you like a sister; and Scott loves you more than anything in the world. You filled the hole where his old girlfriend used to be and more…and he filled the hole that Louis left more than Logan ever did."

"Is there something I can help with?" one of the mutant professors suddenly asked from the garden, having received Vickie's text.

"What are you doing here, Kurt?" the brunette demanded, warily eyeing the wolves.

"Victoria…texted me," the blue German replied, the technological word coming bitterly off of his tongue. Like Renee, he didn't really appreciate much when it came to technology. "Renee, what are you doing?"

"Vickie, why did you bring him here?"

The vet shrugged again, saying,

"You needed someone whose life you have yet to affect too much."

"But he's affected mine," she sighed, suddenly seeming to see that the world didn't revolve around her being everybody's savior. "I had lost all of my faith in everything beyond what I could see, sense, and touch until you came along, Kurt. If anything good came out of all this, it was that. I believe that there's something beyond my own little bubble again because of your steadfastness to what you believed, regardless of what being a mutant has done to your life."

"I'm assuming that that includes all those who care about you now?" he responded, flattered but not dissuaded from his apparent purpose there. "Renee, if you're trying to run away for any reason that any of us might not know about, then I don't blame you; however, you have a family here, not only in Logan and, soon, Scott, but in all of the people at this School. You brought a new life to this place that no one else could have created."

"I…I just don't want things to end like they did with my father and my husband."

"Unlike those times, you have dozens of people here who would never let anything happen to you or each other. That's why I returned to the School to teach. While I may not agree with some of the X-Men's tactics and the general thinking of most mutants, there is no other place where every single person would go to the ends of the earth for one of their own, regardless of personal opinions."

Slowly but finally, Renee nodded, throwing the lock pick back to Vickie.

"I guess…I suppose…we'd better get back, then. I'm getting married in half an hour to best man I've ever known." As she rejoined her two confidantes and the guard animals were released back to their own prowling and napping, the doctor seemed more than a little embarrassed. "Listen, guys…I'm sorry about all the fuss. I just felt so guilty and I didn't know if I was giving Scott all the credit he deserves…I just freaked out."

"Apparently," the vet mumbled. "Let's not bring this little episode up again, shall we? You had a scare; it's behind us, now let's just forget about it. As far as I care, it never happened."

"Thanks, Vickie. You too, Kurt. I honestly don't know where I had planned on running to, anyway."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," the German commented with a smile. "We were just going for a walk to cool your nerves."

Only one chapter to go and this story is complete. Thanks for reading!


	9. Eternal Love

Thank you xmen4life for your review and thanks to everyone else who has reviewed this story!

Well, at last, here is the final chapter of 'Someone's Savior, Someone's Sister'. I hope you enjoy this little wrap-up. :)

Eternal Love

"Say 'ah'." The five-year-old girl obeyed dutifully. After a few seconds, Dr. Summers stood up from peering down the child's throat and began removing her latex gloves as she turned to the little one's mother at the door, a tall red-haired, hazel-eyed woman who owned the local grocery store in the lovely little northern Colorado town. "Well, Mrs. Stevens, I don't think there's too much of a cause to worry. Carrie just has a case of the common cold…nothing to cause a panic. And I think it should start to improve within a few days; however, if it doesn't, just give me call and I'll be here in a jiffy."

"I figured as much," the other woman sniffed coolly, helping her daughter in putting on her jacket, "but she usually is over it by now. I'm still surprised at how you can split your time between here and New York. The cost for the back-and-forth plane tickets can't be too cheap."

"Oh, I manage."

"Don't you get some sort of bonus for being a frequent flyer?"

"The…airline I usually use doesn't do that sort of stuff."

"Oh…interesting. Well, have a nice evening."

"You too, Mrs. Stevens."

The instant the patient and mother were out the door, Renee Summers quickly closed up shop, locking the clinic doors, turning off the lights, and grabbing her handy messenger bag before walking out on the small gravel parking lot to her Buick Riviera. The old car putted smoothly to the opposite side of town, putting all other vehicles to shame. After only a few minutes of driving, the woman pulled into a long, pothole-ridden driveway towards the log house with an adjacent barn and corral that served as the veterinarian clinic.

All Renee had to do was follow the sound of a barking dog to the back of the house and into another, smaller but sizeable, building to find the vet herself, who was staring at the seated German Shepherd in the middle of the aisle between the kennels with her arms crossed. Any other person would have thought that the blonde was insane as she participated in a rather animated conversation with the creature.

"You already went on a run…for a whole hour! I was there, so don't try lying to me. I have other animals that need attention, you know." The dog whined and slid down onto the shaving-covered floor, looking quite pitiful. "You may have fooled your human into thinking that you pulled a muscle, but I know better. You just wanted to see Gretchen again. I'm sorry, but that Golden Retriever is _way_ out of your league. Besides, in your condition, I don't think it would be possible." The Shepherd snarled menacingly. "What? It's not _my_ fault that you and your people didn't move here until _after_ you lost your manhood."

Unfortunately, the physician couldn't hold in her laughter any longer, so the priceless conversation was cut short as Victoria quickly ushered her canine guest into the nearest ten-by-ten kennel.

"Renee!" the vet growled. "How many times have I told not to come here unannounced?"

"Only a thousand times," the brunette giggled. "But it's so fun to watch you and those creatures chat like you were best pals."

"Hearty-ha-ha. Take a hike, Doc."

"I might," commented the other woman, finally reducing her mirth to a mild smirk, "but first I want to know where the boys are."

"Oh, they're out back playing with Trudy and Texas."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea: letting a ten-year-old and an eight-year-old fool around with a Newfoundland dog and an Arabian stallion?"

"Don't worry so much. I have them completely in hand, Trudy is too old to go jumping on people and Texas is the calmest Arab ever. If that ol' boy starts getting a little frisky, Trudy'll reign him in before you could say 'Whoa, boy.' Jimmy _was_ riding Texas a minute ago, but they just put him back in the corral, so they're probably headed here."

"Let me guess: riding a horse bareback?" Frustrated and concerned, Renee crossed her arms in dissatisfaction. "If I was here permanently, I wouldn't let them near this place."

"You wouldn't have the heart. Besides, it's not like Jimmy _could_ fall off."

"Okay, you're right. Despite the dogs, horses, and crazy owner, this is the safest place possible."

"Of course it is, Ma," Renee's older son, whose ability it was to control energy, suddenly said, coming in through a nearby side door. "Did you finish your rounds already?"

"Christopher!" Vickie exclaimed in disappointed shock. "Aren't you gonna give your ma a decent greeting?"

"Sorry, Ma'am. Hello, Ma. How was the day's torture? Are we stayin' in Colorado a few more days?"

"Excuse me? Do I look like a 'Ma'am' to you, Mister?"

Chuckling as the boy's cheeks turned a fiery red, the mother decided to save her child from further embarrassment.

"You just learned a very important lesson, Chris: don't ask a woman about her age. Now, where's Jimmy?"

"I wasn't supposed to tell."

"What do you mean 'you weren't supposed to tell'?"

"I wanted to surprise ya," Wolverine responded from outside.

The three indoor occupants rushed out to find Logan, Scott, and Jimmy, who clung to his uncle's back using the microscopic Velcro-like grabbers on his hands, standing near the corral with 'got ya' looks clearly plastered on their faces.

"What are you doing here?" the doctor queried as both girls greeted their respective fellows. "You're supposed to be in New York."

It was gorgeous-eyed Scott who answered that one.

"You were coming home soon anyway…and Logan was itching to see his girlfriend."

"Was not," snarled the mentioned mutant. "I was doing perfectly fine."

"Just sulking a bit."

"Was not!"

"Vickie," Renee cut in, if only to stop the squabbling of grown men, "why don't you come back to New York for a while. Besides, one of our students picked up a stray cat; I want a second opinion on how healthy that thing is."

"Don't you know, Miss Ion?" the other woman shot back, giving her boyfriend a shove. Victoria had never been in the least nervous around Logan and his temper and claws, even after he almost stabbed her more than once. "Aren't you the one who can see the very weave of someone's DNA?"

"Yes, but I'm no veterinarian, nor am I an animal whisperer. I deal with humans, not animals. They're just not really my thing. Besides, Wolverine would be heartbroken."

"Hey! Why are we suddenly trying to narrate my life?" the man protested.

"Because we love you, Wolf-man," said Renee, punching her brother's other arm. "Now, we might as well stay the night here and go tomorrow, so, my dearest brother…you and the boys can stay here at Vickie's house and watch old movies, or whatever you always have such fun with – plus Chris and Jimmy will keep you two out of trouble…and Scott and I are going to have a nice night at my old place. There's something I want to tell my dearly beloved at dinner. How about the nice little restaurant on 1st Street sound?"

Wolverine did a catcall and, this time, received a playful punch on both arms at once.

* * *

><p>Dinner came quick for the doctor…well, actually, it came and went before she finally cleared her throat in anticipation for what she was about to disclose. She had done it before – three times before, in fact – but there was something very different about this time. She didn't know what was different, but it was just…there. With her boys, it hadn't been a problem. She had just said it outright in her usual, coy way of breaking things to people and that was that; however, now…memories…haunting memories…they ran through her mind on a grand parade of horror.<p>

And she was afraid. Not only afraid…terrified. The last time she felt so horrified was when she tried running out on her own wedding.

Now, she was remembering telling Lewis the first time she was pregnant…and she remembered the horrible results of the argument soon following. She remembered coming home from a walk and finding him sitting on the porch of their house in a raging fit over having opened a letter to his wife that was, at face value, a love letter with a poor attempt at coding by addressing her as 'Elizabeth'.

They had fought and fought for what could have been an hour or more. The wife had tried explaining that the letter was not what it appeared to be, but he wouldn't listen. He was drunk and wouldn't tell why he drank or opened the letter in the first place. She never found out.

"_Why are you acting like this, Lewis?"_

"_Why? Because I just found out that my wife isn't quite as _loyal_ as I was once disillusioned enough to assume!"_

"_I already told you that it's not true. My mother has been sharing those with me for years."_

"_Oh, sure, your mother… Let's see…" The soldier brought the aged letter into the open and stared at with unfocused eyes. "'To My Beloved Mistress Elizabeth…' Honestly, couldn't he have come up with a better secret title than your middle name? '…I miss the fine summer days when we would sit under the great old tree and imagine running away from this life full of sadness, oppression, and neglect and go somewhere where no one could find us. I am happy to say that, now that your stiff-necked husband has finally crossed the line of tolerance, I will make everything the way we want it to be. He will not be our master any more. Until tonight, Thomas'._

"_How touching. Did you really think I wouldn't find out? Well, when that lowlife comes here tonight, he will never see the light of day again."_

_Renee shook with anger, suddenly feeling a strange sensation of warm…power enveloping her. How could he think that? How could the man she loved more than life itself accuse her of such things? Why wouldn't he hear her out? She had never even batted an eyelash at any other man, let alone done something so…horrid!_

"_Lewis, if you would just let me explain," she began, approaching her husband as she reached the end of her patience._

"_Don't touch me, you dirty little…"_

_Lewis Bradford was never allowed to finish that sentence. Before he had the chance, he quite literally…exploded._

_Overcome with her anger, grief, and shock, the nurse used her newly-found horror to blow a cherry tree to smithereens before falling to the ground and screaming,_

"_They were love letters my father sent to my mother! They were pieces of history my mother wanted to show me, even though I didn't care and didn't _want_ to know! Why! Why couldn't you just listen, you fool? Why won't you answer me? Answer me! Please, Lewis! Please, answer me!"_

_Through her sobs, the brunette released the death-grip on her skirt and cried even harder when her hand came away with blood. _

For decades, she had been a broken soul; a frantic, frenzied girl bottled up inside the body of a cool, collected woman who refused to show any anger or fear for fear of unleashing the demon that had killed her husband, replacing it with sarcasm and wit that was hardly genuine. Scott Summers, the blind boy trapped as a lab rat, had taught her with his sweet nature and quiet courage to enjoy life again in all its simplicities and trials. They had each been the savior of the other more times than one.

With a deep breath, finally summoning her courage, she grabbed her mutant husband's hand fondly, halting him from taking a sip of his wine.

"Scott…dear…there's, um…there's something I need to tell you."

"While the tone was different, the last time you said that was almost exactly nine months before Jimmy came along."

"Well…you're a good guesser."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"And you know that I'll never let anything happen to either of you, right?"

"Uh-huh." Before Scott could do anything else, she quickly offered, "If we have a girl, I want to name her Jean. Please, hear me out. She…Jean Gray deserves to be more than a haunting memory."

The slow, slight nod was enough confirmation for her and, luckily, her spouse was 'over' his previous love enough to not be put down by the mention of her, so the topic was thankfully not brooded upon. Instead, he merely gripped her hand and grinned like an idiot.

Cyclops wasn't really the type to shout and holler for joy in a public place and, for that matter, neither was Renee; so, when the man merely leaned across the table to give his wife a kiss, she was more than happy. The couple no longer needed words to express simple emotions…emotions such as the one Renee 'Ion' Elizabeth Summers, formerly known as Howlett, Bradford, and Logan, felt at that moment.

Whatever happened, she finally felt reassured, knowing that, no matter what, she could always count on Scott, Wolverine, and all of her friends in the X-Men to understand, love, and appreciate her for her. Having been to Canada, Colorado, Nebraska, and numerous other places, she knew that Xavier's School for Gifted Children in New York, U.S.A. was the place she truly belonged.

"One more thing, darling," the doctor said, breaking the kiss and sarcastically cringing. "Remember our little bet? Well, there still aren't any vampires, so...how about that drink you owe me? ...come on - I'll settle for orange juice."

"It's not over, dove. Any day, now, they'll find them somewhere."

Months later, a 'Jean' was added to the Summers family. A year following, Vampires were discovered in at least Transylvania, Italy, and America. Scott won the bet and Renee took him out for three drinks instead of just one. Nine months after that, they had another girl, making the male/female ratio of their brood even.

Once again, thank you everyone for your absolutely wonderful support for this story. It has been an incredibly nice break from my bigger projects. Honestly, I really wanted to bring Jean Gray back into the picture somehow, but it would have made things so much more complicated…and I can only come up with so many miraculous character resurrections.


End file.
